
Book... jtllJlS 



• 1896 • 



'3^3 




H 



■*■ -*-j 




PORT AND CITY. 



FACTS AND FIGURES 



— OF ITS 



TRADE, COMMERCE 



-AND — 



MANUFACTURES. 



I 



COMPILED BY 

SAMUEL R. BORUM, Secretary, 

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. 




D£C 8 1908 



♦ A Great Harbor 
and Trade Center, 

♦ij|^EYOND question, Norfolk, with its splendid harbor, is a point 
«1£^ to which a great many eyes are turned in these days. Its near- 
ness to the ocean, deep water, unobstructed by bars, or ice in the cold- 
est winter, climatic conditions made favorable by proximity to the gulf 
stream, never experiencing frigid or torrid extremes, neither blizzards, 
cyclones or hurricanes to endanger persons or property, nor destructive 
to shipping which may ride at anchor absolutely secure from disaster, 
has, and is attracting the attention of this, and foreign nations as well, 
to the unlimited facilities at hand for accommodating the trade and 
commerce of the world, in this port. 

The purpose of this book, therefore, is to supplement the facts and 
figures heretofore issued, and present in these pages the story of growth 
and development in lines, which should interest every one seeking a 
home for improvement in comfort, health or the acquisition of wealth, 
in the field which is a most inviting one. 

To enable the reader to take in at a glance a few leading points 
about Norfolk, the following condensed matter is given as a preface to 
the work: 

Norfolk is distinguished among American cities for its Cotton, Lumber, 
Truck, Coal, Oyster, Fish and Peanut trades. 

For its Foreign and Coastwise traffic, its Navy-Yard and Seaside Resorts. 

And for its history. 

It was founded in 1080. 

Besieged and burnt in the Revolutionary War. 

Besieged in the War of 1812, and the Civil War. 

And was-the scene of the Monitor and Merrimac encounter in 18G2. 

It is in Latitude 37 degrees north and Longitude 76 degrees west, approxi- 
mately, on Elizabeth River, at Hampton Roads. 

Its mean Summer Temperature is 70 degrees ; mean Winter, 40 ; its Rain- 
fall about 50 inches a year, with average monthly installments. 

The estimated Population of the metropolitan district is 110,000 — white, 
75,000 ; black, 35,000 ; the Death Rate, white, is 17. 

The Tax Valuations are $30,000,000. 

The Tax rate — minimum, $0.90 ; maximum, $2.10. 

The Schools, public and private, number 00. 

The Real Estate Sales and Betterments of six years past have been 
$30,000,000; over 5,000 acres of suburb have been built upon in that time. 

The water supply of Norfolk is abundant for present growing population, and 
can be increased as may be needed. 



The city is thoroughly sewered after the Waring system, and works admirably. 

Light, for public and private uses, is furnished by two electric light and one 
gas plant. 

The city has abundant facilities for local transit, — in a well-equipped and 
well-managed system of electric (trolley) lines, traversing the entire city, and for 
several miles outside, to the suburban settlements. These lines on all the routes 
are well patronized, and give satisfaction in speed and safety. 

The CHURCHES are plentiful everywhere and embrace all denominations. 

A free Public Library, and a new Young Men's Christian Association building 
are among the attractions for resident and transient population, and with a hearty 
greeting to all. 

Two excellent hospitals in the city, for general accommodation, and also a 
sanitarium, conducted under skillful medical supervision. 

For health, and good climatic conditions, Norfolk is so declared by medical 
experts. There are no fresh-water streams anywhere, and the temperature in sum- 
mer or winter, is most agreeable to those who make comparison with most other 
cities. The salt breezes in summer from the ocean, and surrounding rivers, fan you 
almost unceasingly day and night. 

No hurricanes, cyclones or blizzards ever disturb the peace of this people. 

Norfolk is well known for its near-by places of resort. In fifteen minutes you 
can enjoy a bath at Ocean View, in the Chesapeake Bay. In thirty minutes you can 
take a dip in the ocean, at Virginia Beach; and then there is Old Point, with its fine 
hotels, good music, cool breezes from the Bay and Roads, — and be home again 
entirely refreshed, at reasonable bed-time. Cheap fare on all lines, and quick 
transit each way. 

Hotel and boarding-house accommodation in the city, with service commen- 
surate with their charges. 

For further information, general and specific, the reader will find 
in the pages which follow a story about this Cornucopia District, 
interesting, instructive, and so captivating as to excite a desire to come 
and view the land so graphically described. 












/; ,V '^SPW 










THE KING'S CHAMBER. 

/^NN all the charts of the American Coast since Amidas & Barlow's 
^y time, there is set down, in latitude 37 degrees north, approxi- 
mately, about 205 miles southwest from Sandy Hook, and 150 miles 
northwest of the Scylla of Hatteras, a channel. 

Cape Charles' Light-Ship and the pharos of Cape Henry, twelve 
miles apart, now mark, accurately and unmistakably, for the navigators 
of the world, this tidal cross-roads. 

It has, very nearly, the true sea-tinge, which means very nearly 
true sea-depth; is without any bar, rarely storm-beaten, ice-bound 




NORTH GAftOVI-N-ft 

THR CORNUCOPIA DISTRICT. 



hardly ever at all — a passage to still waters within, free and unob- 
structed practically, the year round. 

Through its landmarks, known as the Virginia Capes, it opens 
directly upon the superb land-locked basin of Chesapeake Bay. 

Inlets innumerable scollop the edges of this grand basin, and it is 
the receptacle for several important, because navigable, rivers. It is 
200 miles north and south by twenty to thirty broad. Over it you may 
sail, if you choose, a hundred-mile course straight- away. It is, there- 
fore, both haven and highway; and is unparalleled, in its noble dimen- 
sions and superlative natural maritime advantages, upon the littoral of 
the United States, excepting, of course, by its counterpart on the 
Pacific side, San Francisco Bay. 

The first chart of this magnificent sheet of water was made by 



NORFOLK, VA. 



that most picturesque of pioneers, Capt John Smith, and a surpris- 
ingly accurate job they say this map of it is. He called it the 
"Virginia Sea," and by another authority — in the domain of Science 
an eminent one (the most eminent of Virginians, and one of the most 
eminent of Americans, in fact) — Commodore Maury, "Pathfinder of 
the Seas and Geographer of the Main," it has been described as a 
" King's Chamber among 
the world's great harbors." 
And a King's Cham- 
ber, truly, it is — to lands- 
men, dwellers of the plain, 
in a view quite apart 
from the view of those 
who go down to the 
sea in ships. Baltimore, 
with half a million souls, 
occupies one of the courts 
to this chamber, the estu- 
ary of the Patapsco ; and 
on its grand, natural aque- 
ducts and fountains of the 
James and Elizabeth in Vir- 
ginia, two other grand en- 
trepots of trade impressive- 
ly rise. Into and out of it 
flows, back and forth, 
through these and other 
portals to it, a vast and 
cumulative stream of the 
foreign commerce of the 
Central West and Central 
South : and from the east- 
ern side of the Mississippi 
Valley, now between Chi- 
cago and Memphis, toward 
this great bay, nearly all 
the trunk lines of rail either 
lead or head. 




THE ATLANTIC UAHIIKX. 



ROADS, RIVER AND PORT. 

HT the foot of this bay, at its very heel in fact, is Hampton 
Roads, a sound ten miles long, five miles wide and fifty feet 
deep, formed by the meeting of the James, the Nansemond and 
Elizabeth rivers, where, their missions fulfilled, they finally discharge 
their waters. The James has Richmond upon it, many a league 
inland, however, and the Nansemond is a smaller stream, though, in 
its way, like many a fellow of humble station, a useful. For the pres- 
ent we need not dwell upon either. It is upon the Elizabeth and the 
Roads that our bird's eye concenters; to the city upon them this 
description is especially addressed. They form together, this Eliza- 



PORT AND CITY. 7 

beth River and Hampton Roads, the seat of a rapidly expanding port 
and trade center, which in some respects is unique. It is a cluster of 
cities, a many in one, of different home names and of various claims 
to distinction; but of one family group, a plural known to the outside 
world, and abroad especially, by the name of its kernel, core and 
nucleus, Norfolk. 

This little commercial federation, so to speak, is laid out over the 
bay, Roads and river, somewhat like a wheel. Norfolk Proper, 
the hub of this wheel, is on the Elizabeth, eight miles from Hamp- 
ton Roads and twenty-three by that channel from sea, and is accessible 
by vessels of twenty-eight feet draft. From this hub radiate, spoke- 
like, Portsmouth, embracing " Gosport" or Norfolk Navy-Yard, 
Berkley, a manufacturing suburb, Lambert's Point, the great coal- 
ing station of the South, and other settlements of the Elizabeth River; 
and on the rim and felloe, or periphery of this wheel, are Cape Charles 
City, on Chesapeake Bay, and Hampton and Newport News, on 
Hampton Roads. 

Broadly speaking, mind you, in the same unrestricted sense as if 




NORFOLK NAVY-YARD, SOUTHERN BRANCH. 

you should say New York, meaning by that the metropolitan district, 
Brooklyn inclusive, and other integral parts, so Norfolk in gross is 
composite — a whole venue of towns, among them, first in population 
and relative importance, Norfolk proper; then Portsmouth, next Berk- 
ley, and next again Newport News. 

There is a Norfolk district, remember, and a Norfolk city entirely 
distinct; and of this Norfolk city, on Elizabeth River, heart of the dis- 
trict, life of it, body and soul, in fact, of it all, it is our special com- 
mission to treat. 

CLASSIC GROUND. 



HN interesting environment this city has ; one of the most interesting, 
indeed, of the lowland districts of the Atlantic side. An infi- 
nitely scenic everywhere. It has the most charming prospects of sea 
and bay, roads and rivers, capes and beaches, points and spits, and 
unruffled cope, all summer long, above them. 



NORFOLK, VA. 



What a place it is for marine effects and aquatic perspectives ! 
Long stretches of beach and strand, ground smooth and scoured white 
by that mightiest of engines — the sea ; the tremendous battery of the 
breakers forever forming and reforming ; the wild bird skimming the 
surf ; the wreck half buried in the sands. The beacons at the capes, 
and within them, white, towering, monumental, guidons for shipping 
by day, flashing out in the company of the stars at night. The placid 
bay, on its breast a white-winged yatching and fisher fleet reposing ; 
or a-spangle in the darkness with the fire-fly lights of the Bay Line 
boats, or the passenger floats of the railroads. 

And then there's Old Point, with its splendid hotels, the Hygeia and 
Chamberlin. And Fortress Monroe, a citadel now, in its present 
state, only in name ; through its postern disclosing the groves and par- 
terres of its inner courts ; from its parapet, vistas of aquarelle — like 
nothing so much, some one has said, as a walled palace of the Orient. 
And how scenic it all must have been in these roads, when the 
" Great Eastern," leviathan of ships, lay there, in i860, thousands vis- 
iting her at anchorage ! 
How scenic and spec- 
tacular, both, when, only 
three years ago, the forty 
warships of ten great 
powers were marshalled 
here for review ! 

But infinitely more in- 
teresting and spectacular 
these parts are, all of 
them, in their historical 
aspects ; the quickening 
and imperishable memo- 
rials of events which, in 
their bearing, were mo- 
mentous for Liberty on 
this side of the water; 
to Civilization consequential; upon Progress far-reaching. Hither 
came, you know, through these same capes, into this same bay, three 
centuries ago nearly, at the beginning at what seems, looking back- 
ward, a cycle in the World's chronicles — the Hesperian Cycle, the 
Cycle of Westward Ho ! — hither came the ships of Newport, Smith 
and Gosnold, and anchored at " Old Poynt Comfort ; " the little barques, 
freighted with the first Virginia colony — with more, indeed, — with the 
first systematic adventure at colonization of that race which is fount of 
our own ; of that breed compounded of Celt and Dane, and Saxon and 
Norman, which is dominant yet in the land. 

Here, then, we may say, at Jamestown, Hampton, Bermuda Hun- 
dred and Richmond, between 1607 and 1609, Berkeley's star of Empire 
first rose upon the Occident. And here, at Jamestown, was discharged 
a Pandora's box of unnumbered woes to the Colonists and their pos- 
terity, when that first Dutch brig made fast in 1619, with its cargo of 
Congo slaves. 

It was here, you remember, at Williamsburg, not many miles from 




CITT HALL, NORFOLK, VA. 



PORT AND CITY. 9 

this bay, that Patrick Henry sounded in 1775, the tocsin of Revolu- 
tion ; and here at Yorktown, near bv, that the closing scene of that 
Revolution was enacted. Here again, in the upper waters of this 
Chesapeake Bay, at Fort McHenry, in 1814, when Brittania's pride 
was once more humbled, the National Anthem first was chanted 
Here was fought, on Hampton Roads, in 1862, that famous duel of 
mail-clad ships— of the Federal Monitor and Confederate Merrimac 
4 'whilst all the world wondered ! " And the Rhine of the Old World' 
with all that has transpired upon its banks, is not more storied now than 
the James of the new. 

Yes, everywhere here the reminders most cherished among us • 
the most eloquent ; the most epic ; the tombs, the altars and memorials! 
the battle-fields and shrines ! 



THE YESTERDAY OF THE BOROUGH. 

mORFOLK proper is a city of a green and thrifty old age It 
was settled in 1680. In 1736 the King's letters "patent raised it 
to the dignity of a -borough," and this title it retained until i8 4 < 
cherishing it for its as- 
sociations very likely, 
as it does yet the old 
street names of the Co- 
lonial era, like King's 
Lane, Queen and Duke 
Street, York and Cum- 
berland, Kentand New- 
castle, Falkland and 
Bute, Charlotte and 
James, Yarmouth, 
Dartmouth and Dun- 
more; or those of its 
inceptive stage, like 
Cove and Bank, Main POST office and custom hourk. 

and Mariner, Chapel and Freemason; or those of heroic reminder, 
National Lane, Liberty and Union, Tripoli and Bermuda; or those 
others of genius and race pride, Avon and Waverly. 

In a sense, it is constituent, part and parcel, 'you mav say, of a 
borough yet— the sense, as we have already explained, of its trade. 

A veteran this Norfolk is of the wars. 

It has been shelled out of house and home, scorched and scarred 
besieged in three and captured in two of them. 

In the wall of its ancient church of St. Paul's is a relic of the 
Revolutionary assault by Dunmore— a round shot snugly fittine; a niche 
of its own sculpture. 

In the second war with Britain its militia gallantly and successfully 
defended it. J 

The Merrimac (properly the Virginia), prototype of the modern 
ironclad, was Norfolk's contribution to the armaments of the Confed- 
eracy ; this city furnished the materieliox it, and the personnel to man it 




IO 



NORFOLK, I 'A. 



Relics and antiquities abound here — heraldic devices upon tomb- 
stones, famous family names. 

St. John's Lodge of Freemasons, of Norfolk, was chartered in 
1741. The old light-house at Cape Henry was put up in the Revolu- 
tionary times. St. Paul's Church, Norfolk, was built in 1739; the 
original of Trinity, in Portsmouth, in 1762. 

John Hancock's chair is preserved here; the one he sat in when 
the Declaration was signed. 

And many a notable name occurs in this city's annals. 

Early in the present century William Wirt lived here, and Tom 
Moore found here his legend of the Lake of the Dismal Swamp; 
Father Ryan, "the Minstrel of the Confederacy," was born here. 
G. P. R. James was British Consul here before the war, and 
here wrote some of his romances. And Pickett, of Gettysburg 
fame — in a wilder charge than Balaklava the leader — died here. 

Along about 1800, Norfolk was the maritime rival of New York. 

It had the West Indian trade, and a foreign commerce in staves 
and lumber, not far behind its customs business of to-day ; in view of 
the fact that the carrying trade then was in large part its own, a more 
profitable business indeed, relatively, than now. 

" It promised in 1807," we are told, " to be the commercial empor- 
ium of the country." 

But in that very vear its scepter passed from it. The Embargo 
Proclamation of that date, the War of 1812 to 1815, and the Naviga- 
tion Act of 1820, were successive and almost crushing strokes to it, 
from which, however, it rallied, during the "40's," only to be cruelly 
scourged, in '55, by Yellow Jack (introduced by an infected ship); and, 
as if all this were not enough, to receive, by the Civil War, an almost 
finishing blow. 

The causes, therefore, of its decline, during this period, are not 
far to seek. It was not, as some have held, that the tropic languor of 




NORFOLK MARKETS, <>l.l> A.ND NKW. 



PORT AND CITY. 



ii 



the Gulf Stream, flowing by its doors, pervaded it; else why not 
decadent conditions still ? Nor was it perceptibly, as others say, that 
slavery conduced to its lethargy. But it was, rather, that with all these 
misfortunes heaped upon it, against the superior enterprise and suc- 
cesses of its growing and now prodigiously greater Northern rival, its 
natural advantages were of small avail. 

PROSPERITY OF TO-DAY. 

HND at all events, whatever the moral, this is all now a dead past 
to Norfolk. For at last the tide turned, and Norfolk rose, with 
new aim and vim, when the Civil War closed. 

Under changed conditions its fine harbor speedily secured it a large 
share of the exports of the cotton of the recuperating South, which 
share has steadily increased, until this market receives, in a full season, 
750,000 bales, worth ordinarily $30,000,000, and is Fourth among 
the Cotton Ports of the Country. 

Contemporaneously grew also, a business which was just inchoate 
when the war came on, the trucking or market-gardening business, 
now aggregating, for the Norfolk district, $$, 000, 000 a year, making, 
this city first of Southern centers supplying ihe North with early vege- 
tables, small fruits, poultry, eggs and lambs. 

And coincident with these has likewise proceeded apace the devel- 
opment of its oyster and fishing business, perhaps $2,500,000 in the 
aggregate a year. 

And of another industry, which, however suggestive of the com- 
monplace and petty it may be elsewhere, is here far from insignificant, 
viz: The preparation for consumption, the world over, of the " gouber" 
or peanut of adjacent North Carolina and Virginia, a trade now esti- 
mated at $1,250,000 in value a vear. 

But it is to its Transportation Facilities, gradually amplified since 
the war, especially of late years, and particularly to railroads that Nor- 
folk owes the largest measure of its recent advancement. 

The extension of its old, and the connections with new systems of 
rail penetrating the great pineries to the South of it, have made it, 

at length, the 
First Lumber 
Port OF" THE 

South, with a 
business, for 
1895, of 500,- 
000,000 feet, 
valued at ,Sio,- 
000,000, han- 
dled. 

At the same 
time, the Nor- 
folk & West- 
ern Railroad 
bringing the 
product of the 
nobpolk >t wKSTK.itN depot, NORFOLK. 1 1 1 1 mitaole and 




12 



NORFOLK, VA. 



unrivalled Pocahontas Flat Top Coal Field of South-west Virginia 
and Southern West Virginia to the bunkers of that road at Lambert's 
Point, lias made this city the Great Coaling Station of the 
South Atlantic, with more than 2,000,000 tons, valued at nearly 
$5,000,000, received annually, and more than 1,800 vessels, 500 of 
them ocean steamships, coaled; besides which, many others load at 
the " C. & ()." piers, at Newport News, and in addition to which 
$1,785,000 worth of Virginia iron is shipped now a year. 

The Population of this Norfolk metropolitan district (Portsmouth, 
Berkley, Newport News and its other components included) is, in 

round numbers, 110,000, 
making this the largest 
city of the South, New 
Orleans and Louisville 
excepted; and Louisville 
is, in its characteristics, 
rather more of the West 
now than the South. 

The Tax Valuations 
are $30,000,000, and their 
equivalent in cash is prob- 
ably nearer $75,000,000; 
at the same time the debts 
of the several communi- 
ties which are components 
of this district are, rela- 
tively, less than in the 
other cities of the South. 
The Bank clearances 
of the business commu- 
nity are now upwards of 
$58,000,000 a year, and 
are steadily increasing. 

The Jobbing and Re- 
tail trade is more than 
$24,000,000 a year. 

The Manufactures, 
of which cotton goods, 
lumber, ship-building and 
fertilizers are the leading- 
items, equal $10,000,000 
a year. And the grand aggregate of the city's Commerce is fully 
$150,000,000 a year. 

The sales of Real Estate in Norfolk proper, Portsmouth and the 
county of Norfolk, during the last six years, foot up $27,000,000; 
the new buildings constructed in the different municipalities we group 
as one represent fully $3,250,000 a year; and it is to be within bounds 
to say that the total expenditure for Real Estate and Betterments 
in Norfolk proper, Portsmouth, Berkley, Newport News and Hampton, 
and their outskirts, since 1890 began, has not been less, on the whole, 
than $35,000,000. 




IUI 1. 1)1 SQ 



PORT AND CITY. 



13 



Thai's what they call out West a" boom," you say, perhaps, sir. 

But it is not at all of the Jack o'Lantern, Hesperian sort, we hasten 
to rejoin. 

Well, a boom, though, if you like. But a boom we can tell you, 
grown out of the annexation to Norfolk proper since 1887, of two popu- 
lous suburbs, Atlantic City and Brambleton, aggregating 1,590 
thickly settled acres; and of the addition of 2,500 acres more of fau- 
bourg abutting Norfolk, Berkley and Portsmouth by the enterprise of 
the fifty-odd land and development companies organized during the 
last six years. 

Out of the six new railroad connections since 1881, not to speak of 
suburban lines. Out of the expanding cotton traffic, the truck trade, 
the lumber trade, the oyster and peanut business and the jobbing and 
manufacturing growth we have already shown. 




TRUCKERS 1 LANDING, NORFOLK. 

And out of the wonderful endowment, the commanding and inesti- 
mable possession, this city has in its location alone. For it is 
upon that greatest of all highways, the Sea; and is central with 
respect to a series of waterways, which, from the Maryland head 
of Chesapeake Bay on the one hand, to Beaufort, N. C, on the other, 
have the length, in a direct line, of Lake Superior, or of Ontario and 
Erie combined; and which, prolonged northward still, by the Delaware 
and New York canals, afford an inland route clear from the great lakes 
to Pamlico Sound. 

Did you know that? 

No? We thought as much. Vet it's the fact. 

But more. 

With but slight expense, the experts say, this passage, a circuit 
now of a thousand miles inland, could be extended southward, to the 
Georgia frontier. 



H 



NORFOLK, VA. 



Well, what of that? perhaps you say. 

Why, the perils of ocean avoided. And with a light flotilla pro- 
vided, a practical coast defence. 
See the point? 

Surrounding Norfolk on all sides, in fact, is a Tidewater Coun- 
try, and by this name that part of Virginia is known. 

A country watered like the Netherlands, but naturally so, with a 
shore line of bays, sounds and rivers, and other connected pikes 2,500 
miles long. Like Holland, but greater. 

With hardly the 
equation of its navigable 
environment in the same 
area on earth ! 

This position, une- 
qualled along the South 
Atlantic Seaboard, has 
drawn to it, one after 
another, in course of its 
later development, its 
eight trunk railroad 
lines, viz: 

1. The New York, 
Philadelphia and Nor- 
folk Railroad, or " Cape 
Charles Route." 

2. The Chesapeake 
and Ohio Railwav, or 
"C. & O." 

3. The Norfolk and 
Westerner "N. &W." 

4. The Norfolk and 
Carolina, terminal here 
of the Atlantic Coast 
Line. 

5. The Seaboard 
Air Line. 

6. The Atlantic and 
Danville. 

7. The Norfolk and 
Southern. 




BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE CAPE CHARLES ROUTE. 



8. The 
Railway, 



Southern 



And besides these, in that same situation, has originated three 
other short or local roads: An electric passenger and freight line from 
Newport News to Hampton and Old Point, and two narrow-guage lines 
through the truck fields outside of Norfolk proper to the ocean beach 
resorts. 

The Cape Charles Route is a connection of the great Penns}dvania 
System of the North. It is an air line from Norfolk to Philadelphia 
and New York; it runs also to Baltimore, and, consequently, it has a 
vast traffic in truck. 



PORT AND CITY. 15 

The " C. & O. proceeds from Newport News through Richmond, 
Lynchburg and White Sulphur Springs to Cincinnati and Louisville, in 
the West, and to Washington, North. It brings freights into the city 
by car-floats, and passengers on its ferry-boats. Newport News is its 
Tidewater terminal. It transfers its freights to shipping there. 

The " N. & W." passes through Petersburg and Lynchburg to 
Roanoke, Va., and has branches to Durham and Winston-Salem, 
N. C. ; through the great tobacco belt, therefore to the Iron and coal 
fields beyond; through the valley of Virginia to Washington, and 
through West Virginia to Columbus, the capital and central city of 
Ohio, in the West, from which city it has Chicago connections. It is 
the coal road par excellence of the South. 

The Atlantic Coast Line is the through route to Florida via Charles- 
ton and Savannah. It has a cotton and lumber and general traffic in 
Southern staples and goods. Its Norfolk and Carolina Division, ending 
here, has increased the naval stores business of the city in the last few 
years four- fold. 



4BiiJMJ 




BAY IiISE WHARF, NORFOLK, AND STEAMER ALABAMA. 

The Seaboard Air Line proceeds through North Carolina to 
Atlanta, Ga., and there connects with the lines bound to the lower val- 
ley of the Mississippi and the great South-west. It has also a vast 
haul of cotton freights, lumber, and cotton-seed oil products. 

The Atlantic and Danville goes to Danville, Va., 200 miles. It 
facilitates greatly the truck traffic of the city's infield. 

The Norfolk and Southern penetrates the Sounds country of the 
North Carolina Coast, which in climate, soil and forest resource is a 
veritable " God's Country." 

The Southern Railway, with its far-reaching connections, binding 
the Southern States from the Potomac to the Gulf, and from Mississippi 
to the Atlantic, covering a steel trackage of nearly 5,000 miles, and 
now having its Atlantic termini in Norfolk, means a great addition to 
the commerce of this port. 

Of Water Lines, Norfolk has these : 

Four foreign lines: 

1. That of the N. A. Transport Co., operating in connection with 



1 6 NORFOLK, VA. 

the "N. & W.," despatching sixty-six vessels, aggregating 75,000 tons, 
a year, from Norfolk. 

2. One landing at Newport News, and owned by the " C. & O." 

3. Barber & Co.'s, a charter line. 

4. The U. S. Shipping Co. 
Three coastwise lines: 

1. The " M. & M." to Baltimore, Boston and Providence. 

2. The Old Dominion to New York. 

3. The Clyde Line to Philadelphia. 

Then there is also the barge line of the colliers of the " N. & W." 
road to Northern coast ports. 

Four bay lines — one to Baltimore, one to Washington, and the Old 
Dominion Lines. 

Three or four Sound lines — the Old Dominion and Clyde consoli- 
dated, that of the Norfolk Southern road, and independent lines besides. 

Five river lines — the Clyde and Old Dominion to Richmond ; the 
Virginia Navigation Co.'s also on the James; one to Petersburg, and 
the Baltimore-Suffolk Line. 

So that, all told, its transportation agencies, water and rail, foreign, 
coastwise and local, number some thirty regular and established lines. 

FORECAST OF TO-MORROW. 

^^IIESE lines fortify it as the trade center for one of the richest com- 
^^ mercial provinces in the land. For a region, albeit one of the 
oldest, that is to say, longest settled portions of the country, still in 
many parts a virgin zone; the tributaries of Tidewater or Eastern 
Virginia, and the Coast or Sounds Country of North Carolina to 
the South; of Southside or Southern Virginia, with a very much 
larger district of North Carolina alongside; of Southwest Virginia 
and of West Virginia in very large part — these last two the seats of 
wonderful iron and coal developments and city building of late. 

In the restoration and evolution of Norfolk, and its field, as indeed 
all over the South, the railroads have played the star role and part. 

The growth shown by the census of 1890, at the two extremes of 
Norfolk's east and west lines, in Southwest Virginia, in Western Vir- 
ginia, and in the State of West Virginia, and in the district including 
and surrounding Norfolk itself, ,vas fairly amazing; and it has been 
scarcely less surprising along the city's other systems of rail. 

East and West, North and South, Northeast and Southwest, to 
every point and half-point of the compass, from Norfolk as a Seaboard 
terminal, now radiate these abridgments of time and space, the railroads 
and steamboat and steamship lines. 

Unfolding to it the splendid destiny of a port and trade center, not 
of the South only, or of the South and West merely; but in the full 
sense of the term, as New York and New Orleans and San Francisco 
are, of a Continental and a World's City and Port! 

Receipts of Lumber and Logs at Norfolk : 

In 1888 244,262,817 feet. 

In 1895 439,895,895 " 



PORT AND CITY. 

HARBOR AND CITY. 



17 




NAVAL HOSPITAL, PORTSMOUTH SIDE. 




*^T^HE roads are only the outer harbor of this Norfolk; Elizabeth 
VU River, which was first explored by Sir Ralph Lane, in 1586, and 
was named for one of the Stuart princesses, is the real and inner. 

It is a short but 
broad and capacious frith 
bearing back, from its 
mouth in the Roads, 
southeast as a whole, for 
about ten statute miles, 
and forming, with its 
three short stubs of arms, 
the figure of a double 
"Y." In the forks of 
this " Y," at its further 
or southern extreme, 
Norfolk City, Ports- 
mouth and Berkley are 
lodged, Norfolk on one 
side, the eastern or right of the shank of the " Y," Portsmouth facing 
it, and Berkley in the crotch. 

At its mouth in the Roads this river Elizabeth is 8,400 feet wide, 
and it has a minimum depth of twenty-six ieet. At the city it is 2,000 
feet wide, and in the branches from 1,000 to 2,200. 

A channel 500 feet wide is maintained at twenty-eight feet depth, 
high tide, from the Roads to the Navy-Yard, on the Southern Branch, 
a distance of seven air-line miles. 

There is afforded upon this river and its arms about thirty miles 
length of water front, and fully half that of anchorage ground. 

Practically, vessels of twenty-eight feet draft can enter and lie up 
to the wharves, and the port is, therefore, what is commonly known in 
the sea-faring world as one of the First-Class. 

As you enter this river from Hampton Roads one of the first of the 
pilot's indexes you see is Craney Island Light. It is on the right hand 
coming in, and it marks the site of a battery during the Civil War. 

A landmark it is of the past and present both, of which you may 
hear, like as not, some war tale unfolded. 

But what strikes you, perhaps, with greater force than anything 
said of this sign-post to the port, is to hear, as you will, that all round 
here, the water as well as the soil, from Norfolk as center clear round 
to the sea, far as the unaided eye can reach, is under the most careful 
and prosperous cultivation. 

You are entering now, not Norfolk alone, but the Atlantic Gar- 
den, so named, of the South. 

The land you may see for yourself, everywhere in orchards or in 
truck; blossoming and blooming, mid-winter only excepted, like the 
rose; " fair " truly "as a garden of the Lord." 

" But the water? " you say, with perhaps just the faintest inflection 
of doubt in your tone. 

"Yes, the water; that's right," we respond, "seeded with the 



1 8 NORFOLK, VA. 

luscious oysters, you know, for which these parts, and Lynnhaven 
especially, are renowned. And if you are fortunate touring by, betwixt 
flood and field, you may even behold two harvest homes at once — the 
hands in the ripened strawberry beds and cabbage fields ashore, and the 
" tongmeu " afloat in their light pirogues, gleaning the submarine. 

From Craney Island it is about four miles, as the crow flies, to the 
Norfolk City Hall. But by the stream, approaching the city, it is pretty 
much all the way a shifting succession of the familiar scenes of mari- 
time and city life and bustle. 

About a mile inside the heads of the river the lono- two-storied tres- 
ties of the Lambert's Point Coal Piers appear. There are four of 
them, two of iron and two of wood. Two of them are for coal exclu- 
sively, and two for general shipping. 

These piers are 48 feet high, 60 wide and 900 feet long; the long- 
est, some say, in the world. They extend out into six or seven fathoms 
of water, so that the largest ships can load from them. They have no 




OYSTERMEN, LYNNHAVEN BAY. 



storage yards ; the loading is done direct from the cars, hundreds of 
which arrive here daily. They have loading capacity of 22,500 tons 
in ten hours, and can accommodate eight vessels at a time. Some 
1,800 vessels, taking 1,750,000 tons, were actually loaded from them 
last year. They are supplied from the famous Pocahontas Flat Top 
field of Southwest Virginia and West Virginia; are owned by the Nor- 
folk and Western Railroad; are leased to Castner & Curran, a Phila- 
delphia company, and are managed by the Norfolk house of William 
Lamb & Co. They represent piers, bunkers, 483 acres of terminal 
grounds and all, an expenditure by the road of more than $1,500,000. 

Behind these coal piers is a thrifty settlement of 1,200 souls, occu- 
pying an area of 500 acres, which has been platted by the ten or twelve 
development companies operating here. There is a new cotton mill on 
this ground, and railroad shops, and a ship-yard for iron vessels is 
laid out. 

Diagonally over from Lambert's Point are three more new railroad 



PORT AND CITY. 19 

settlements, those of The Southern Railway, Atlantic and Danville and 
Norfolk and Carolina (Atlantic Coast Line) roads, by name, respec- 
tively, West Norfolk and Pinner's Point, town sites surrounding 
the termini of these roads, with piers into deep water at the mouth, but 
on opposite sides of the river's Western branch. 

A noble stream this Elizabeth is at Lambert's Point; from one 
green fringe of shore to the other a glorious expanse of a mile and a 
half or more — here truly for Royalty well-named — and preserving this 
notable breadth until Norfolk is almost reached; lacking one essential 
only of the ideal harbor, viz: sufficient depth for anchorage ground. 

On the other shore, and obliquely over from the West Norfolk 
piers, Norfolk Proper begins. 

THE RESIDENCE DISTRICT. 

mOW many cities — most, indeed, if you have travelled much you 
must know, and ports especially — present you first, as you enter 
their gates, whether by water or rail, their seamiest side. 

It is not so with Norfolk. When you have fairly been ushered 
within, through its grand canal of Elizabeth River, there is disclosed 
you, on the one hand, the Portsmouth side, a beautiful park, a bit of 
original greenwood and greensward, verdant and inviting, exhaling the 
balsam of native pine ; and on the other the precincts of Norfolk's 
brand-newest, tastiest and costliest, most stylish and attractive homes. 

This park on the Portsmouth side is a Government reserve, that of 
the United States Naval Hospital. The residence district, which 
is its vis-a-vis, is the Norfolk " West End." 

It is in this west end of the city of Norfolk that its fashion and 
wealth now congregate most. 

The streets in this quarter, unlike those of its older parts, are wide. 
The mansions, many of them, are palatial, and the grounds, as a rule, are 
spacious and handsomely adorned with shade trees and shrubbery, 
espaliers of vines and beds of fragrant flowers — elm and magnolia, 
willow and laurel, fig and Spanish oak, Virginia creeper and climbing 
rose — an intermingling of the flora of North and South illustrating 
happily this city's mellow climatic mean, the local and generally 
accepted theory of which is this: 

The great Gulf Stream flows by this coast very close in shore. 
The obstruction offered it by the powerful current proceeding out of 
Chesapeake Bay, forces its warm tropic waters up all the inlets and 
coves hereabouts far inland at eveiy tide. Thus a regular circulation 
is maintained, as of water or steam through the coils of heating pipes, 
and thus the surrounding waters maintain an equable temperature here 
all the year round. 

Norfolk is insular almost; the bay is on one side, the roads and 
the river on the other, the ocean at its back. 

The mean temperature here in winter is 40 degrees ; in summer 79. 

Among so many luxurious establishments as there are in this Nor- 
folk West End, it would be invidious to particularize; but of Ghent, 
which is an addition of the Norfolk Company; of the Esplanade and 
Serpentine of Paradise Creek, and numerous other views besides — 



20 



NORFOLK, VA. 






afford the reader so many glimpses of Norfolk at Home that he can 
judge, if he likes, for himself. 

Closer in than this, over the creek, toward " town " along Granby 
Bute, York and Freemason streets, is an older and denser district of 
homes, in which there is still standing many a hale and stately survivor 
of the Ancient Regime in the South, holding its own in simple dignity 
and old-school grace, alongside the pretentious architectural types 
of to-day. 

Conspicuous among these are the Myers Mansion, at Freemason 
and Bank streets, which was built in 1791, and is occupied by Barton 
Myers, British Consul, and great-grandson of the Myers by whom it 
was raised; the old Whittle Homestead, on College Place, a cen- 
tenarian also; and the Whitehead Mansion, opposite Myers, which 
is ninety-six this year. 

But this whole quarter is yielding fast before the encroachments 
of trade. 

With the steady march of improvement North and West, its 

sightly and restful to- 
look-upon habitations 
of the aristocracy of 
old, with their classic 
fronts of lonjy colon- 
nades and porticos and 
balconies: their em- 
bowered enclosures of 
open court, and foun- 
tains and arbors ; their 
tall ivy-clad garden 
walls, and stables at 
the rear, and tenements 
for the slaves — these 
princely old Southern 
mansions here, like the 
generation that maintained and became them, are, for the most part, 
passed or are fast passing away. 

There is extant at Norfolk an old official document with the civic 
legend upon it, " There's no place like home! " 

From its origin, in 1801, the motto of the city's Chamber of Com- 
merce, its principal mercantile guild, has been, " Speed the Ship! " 

"Sweet Home!" and "Speed our Bark!" Well chosen, cer- 
tainly, and expressive sentiments, both. And honestly and unaffectedly 
rendered in the good old mother tongue. 

I^gr 3 There is room enough on these waters to afford every railroad 
in the United States a deep water terminal. " Ten years hence there will 
be one solid city all around Hampton Roads and extending up both banks 
of all its tributaries." Norfolk will " then " be as closely connected with 
Lambert's Point, Tanner's Creek, Sewell's Point, Old Point, Hampton, 
Newport News, Pig Point, Craney Island, West Norfolk and Port Norfolk 
as it is now connected with Berkley and Portsmouth. It will pa} r to study 
well this section of country and then act accordingly. — Cornucopia. 




MYERS .MANSION. 



PORT AND CITY. 21 

A WATERSIDE MAZE. 

**Cfi WEET HOME! " and "Speed our Bark!" The precints 
f£$ here for which these inscriptions might stand are no great dis- 
tance apart. It is an easy transition, a step only, from the residence 
district to that of the docks. 

And here, ah! here, as a while back we hinted — here there is life, 
at the heart of this Norfolk, port and city, on Elizabeth River, both 
sides of the stream . 

Life with a dash of the foreign and strange in it all along shore; 
with a spice of brine, and pungence of bilge and oakum and tar; such 
life as the life of a port is everywhere; a salad of the commerce, a 
port-sangaree, if you'll pardon the pun, of the life and the spirit of the 
four quarters of the globe. 

The sights and sounds and savors, the vistas and voices, peculiar 
the world over to ports: Ships and barks and barkentines, brigs and 
brigantines, and schooners and sloops; steamships and steamboats, tow- 
boats and toy launches, yachts, pilot-boats, racing-shells, "cat-boats" 
and "bug-eye" canoes; rafts even; enormous Naval "cruisers" and 
little Revenue cutters; " clippers " and " old tubs," " lime juicers," so 
called, and " Ocean tramps." Large and small, sail and steam, deep 
water and coasting, square rigged, schooner rigged and " morphrodite," 
high pressure and low, side wheeled and propellor wheeled — "just 
arrived and discharging," as the shipping-house chronicles say, " up and 
loading," at anchorage, undertow and in the dock — vessels and craft of 
every order, kind and degree, in short, and for every purpose under 
the sun. 

At the threshold almost, this city discloses its saline side. There 
are lights to guide shipping on every point; buoys marking the chan- 
nel ; fog-bells and sirens, stentor throated and tempest tuned. Wharves — 
cotton wharves, with compress yards and warehouses and platforms 
behind; coasters' wharves like the " Bay Line " and " Old Dominion " 
and " M. & M. ; " stave wharves like India Dock; coal wharves, truck 
landings, oyster and fish landings; ferry slips like those of the railroads 
and the county; wood wharves, lumber wharves; ship yards and ship 
railways, and floating docks, one after another of them, at Berkley and 
South Norfolk and Portsmouth and Gosport beyond. 



" Naturally, and both in a geographical and military point of 
view, Norfolk, with Hampton Roads, at the mouth of the Chesapeake 
Bay, as its lower harbor, and San Francisco, inside of the Golden Gate, in 
California, occupy — one on the Pacific, the other on the Atlantic — 
the most important maritime positions that lie within the domains of the 
United States. Each holds the commanding point on its sea front; 
each has the finest harbor on its coast, and each with the most conve- 
nient ingress and egress for ships — each as safe from wand and wave as 
shelter can make them. Nor is access to either ever interrupted by the 
frosts of winter. In the harbors of each there is room to berth, not 
only all the ships of commerce, but the navies of the world also." 

— Commodore MattJictv F. Maury. 

Postoffice receipts in 1885, $43,260.27; in 1895, $84,892.42. 



22 NORFOLK, VA. 

THE BUSINESS QUARTER. 

'^T'HE wholesale quarter begins at the wharves and belts the water 
^^ front of Norfolk proper, three or four squares wide for the length 
of perhaps three-quarters of a mile. 

Certain streets and wharves are almost entirely given over to a 
single pursuit. 

The Retail Streets proper are upper Main and Church. The 
stores along these two thoroughfares are exceptionally numerous, and 
many of them vie, in the matter of embellishment and display, with 
those in the greater cities that set the tradesmen's styles. 

At first, indeed, when you find that Portsmouth has its High street, 
of similar character, Berkley its Chestnut street, and Brambleton 
Ward its Brambleton avenue, too, it strikes you that retail trade here is 
somewhat overdone. 

But a very good reason there is for this seeming excess of retail 
business, which will occur to you by and by, and that reason is the 
uncommonly large laboring population there is here, disburses every one. 

Think of it! In the district for which Norfolk is trade center and 
market place, 25,000 truckers' hands, according to the National census,, 
are employed. Then there are about 3,600 fishermen and oystermen 
for nine months in the year; 3,500 railroad men; 3,000 factory hands, 
1,200 to 2,000 employed at the Navy-Yard; ships' crews paid off here, 
and besides these, thousands of summer frequenters of the neighboring 
seaside resorts. 

It is safe to say that the weeks' wages of 25,000 of the laboring 
element of this district of country are in circulation here about all the 
time, not to mention the other classes at all. 

ATTRACTIONS AND RESORTS. 

MITH parks and pleasure grounds and places of recreation and 
resort, Norfolk is amply supplied. There is the Naval Hos- 
pital Park, a forest grove of seventy-five acres on the Portsmouth 
side ; there is the new City Park of ninety-five acres ; there are num- 
erous small parks laid out by development companies to enhance the 
attractiveness of their suburbs; and then there's the Ocean View and 
Virginia Beach resorts. 

Ocean View is on Chesapeake Bay, eight miles northeast from 
Norfolk, with an outlook through the Virginia Capes to sea. Virginia 
Beach is on the shore of the Atlantic, eighteen miles due east. 

Narrow-guage trains run regularly to Virginia Beach, and an elec- 
tric line takes you to Ocean View. Both have dancing pavillions, boats 
and teams for hire, beach and forest drives, hunting grounds contiguous, 
and all that. The bathing at Ocean View is mostly still-water; at Vir- 
ginia Beach the surf. 

The Princess Anne, the hotel at Virginia Beach, is one of the 
finest in the land; and a new hotel, of large capacity, erected last year 
at Ocean View. 

Shell roads, like those of New Orleans and Mobile, have been 
made everywhere throughout the trucking district of the Norfolk pen- 



PORT AND CITY. 23 

insular. From Norfolk radiate eleven of them, with total length of 
seventy-five miles. No speeding track could be finer than these where 
they are kept in order, and driving has become, in consequence, one 
of the pleasures of life hereabouts. The owners of fine roadsters are 
numerous here. 

The Old Point and Hampton resorts, and the numerous fishing and 
hunting preserves of the bay, the Ocean shore, the Dismal Swamp and 
North Carolina Sounds, which are much frequented now by Northern 
sportsmen — many, indeed, taken up and enclosed — are all within jaunt 
of Norfolk either by boat or rail. 

So, too, readily accessible, is all that province of the Old Domin- 
ion, which is richest in memories and souvenirs of the Colonial and 
Revolutionary periods, and which largely also, was the stage of 
Civil War. 

NORFOLK, PORTSMOUTH AND BERKLEY. 

^^HE Elizabeth, as we have seen, has three cities bunched in its 
^^ forks, viz. : Norfolk, Portsmouth and Berkley. These three form, 
as we have also seen, the bulk of one great business community. 

Socially, likewise, they are hardly divisible — inseparable, we may 
say, indeed. But politically they are independent and distinct: three 
different bodies corporate in point of fact. 

Norfolk is, by far, the largest of the three. It occupies, compactly, 
the north side of the river, over a stretch of about three miles in length 
by two and a half wide. 

Within this area a population of 45,000 is housed. To the total 
may be added, as Norfolk's by propinquity, a scattering population of 
perhaps 5,000 residents just outside the corporate bounds, or 50,000 
all told. 

The site of Norfolk is flat. The highest point in the city is about 
twenty feet above tide. The surrounding country is of similar 
topography. 

The place is not, however, destitute of charm. It is an old city — 
going now on its 217th year. Associations cluster round it; it is full of 
the spell of the past. It is by the sea; the salt breeze freshens it; the 
Gulf Stream tempers it; and it is in the midst of what is, in reality, as 
well as in name, a garden spot. As a port, it has that metropolitan air 
which contact with the world imparts. The breath of the great deep 
quickens alike its commerce and social life. 

It is a growing city, a prosperous and a progressive. Its finances 
are orderly; its credit, first-class. 

Its public works and public conveniences are well advanced. In 
the matter of sewerage, street paving, water supply, street lights, pub- 
lic buildings, sanitation, police administration, fire department, harbor 
concerns and street railroad facilities, it is abreast of the times. 

Its institutions, such as schools, newspapers, organizations fraternal 
and benevolent, public charities, churches, and all that, evince steady 
evolution and a forward march. 

Even in its amusements and recreations and mode of life the com- 
munity is modern and city-like. 



24 NORFOLK, VA. 

NORFOLK IN A NUTSHELL. 

"^T^HE area covered by the corporation of Norfolk is four square miles. 
V^ This figure includes Brambleton, on the east, and Atantic 
City, former suburbs, swalloped up by the city in course of its growth, 
the first named in 1S87 and the other in 1S90: but it does not embrace, 
it should be borne in mind, either Portsmouth, Berkley over the river, 
or Lambert's Point on its own side, nor the numerous populous suburban 
settlements north, northeast and northwest, chief among which are 
Huntersville, due north of it, just outside the city line; Lindenvvood 
beyond that again, or Riverside, northeast, with Gordonsville between it 
and the city. 

Lambert's Point lies about three miles from the Postoffice, north- 
west, close to the river's mouth. The Navy-Yard and Naval Hospital 
flank Portsmouth on either side. 

Portsmouth has a city government, Berkley a town government; 
Lambert's Point and the other suburbs named are under county gov- 
ernment, and the Navy-Yard and Naval Hospital under National control. 

FINANCIAL CONDITIONS. 

'^T r 'HE revenue policy of Norfolk is to levy on a low valuation at a 
K^ high rate. The assessed valuations are $21,313,000, of which 
only $2,369,000 is upon personal propertv and perhaps $1,000,000 
suburban. 

The tax rate is $2. to on the $100 of valuations, in Old Norfolk 
(1.70 city, 0.40 State); Si. 10 in Atlantic City Ward and $1.40 in 
Brambleton Ward. 

The difference in levy is explained by the fact that under the terms 
of their annexation the two last-named parts of the city bear the cost of 
their own improvements for fifteen years, and are relieved from the 
charges of debt contracted before their admission. 

This debt is now about $3,270,000. It is practically all funded, 
and none of it drawing more than six per cent, interest. It is two- 
thirds covered by city assets, embracing public buildings, parks, water 
works, railroad stock, etc., and is but a small fraction of the values 
against which it is in reality a charge ; for the assessment represents 
hardly more than a third of the actual property valuations, let alone the 
considerations of population, business and wealth generally, which are 
the real security for it. 

As a matter of fact the credit of the city is A 1. Its old five per 
cent, bonds are selling at no. 



Temperature. — This is the half-way point between Maine 
and Florida. It is what may be called middle latitudes, and a mild and 
agreeable climate is the result. We have no extremes of heat or cold. 
As there is a point too far north too cold for comfort, so there is a point 
too far south too hot for comfort. This point is half-way between these 
two extremes of heat and cold. Government figures at our station here 
for twenty-five years go to show that we have the most even tempera- 
ture of any signal service station in the United States. 



PORT AND CITY. 25 

PUBLIC WORKS. 

♦fFN Norfolk proper there are thirty-two miles length of Streets, of 
II which eighteen have permanent pavement of stone — the business 
quarter, in fact, in its entirety. 

Besides this, there are about seven additional of shell macadam, 
which is the prevailing style also in the suburban extensions where they 
are paved at all. And everywhere in the suburbs that the county has 
jurisdiction there are shell roads, equal to any country highways in the 
land, eleven of them altogether, with total length of seventy-five miles. 

The Sewer System, described in another connection hereinafter, 
covei's twenty-eight miles of streets; approximately, the whole town. 

The city expends about $35,000 a year for new street pavement and 
street repairs, and about $11 ,000 for sewer and sewer repairs. The cost of 
street work is in part assessed under the law against abutting property. 
Street railroads must keep that portion of the streets they occupy in order. 
Street sprinkling and sweeping, drainage of low grounds, and grading are 
all undertaken by the city. Sewerage runs into a great cess pool, from 
which it is pumped into the harbor. Sweepings and garbage are burned. 

The City Engineer, under the direction of the Board of Street, 
Sewer and Drain Commissioners, has charge of all this work. 

The city owns, among other properties, one public park of ninety- 
five acres, lately acquired at a cost of $110,000, an old fair grounds, an 
almshouse and poor farm, a fine new market house and armory, which 
cost $100,000; a city hall, a water works, which has cost it to date 
$1,200,000, and several pieces of wharf and warehouse property, which 
it has leased out for ninety-nine years. It has, indirectly, control of its 
harbor front, through its representatives in the Harbor Commission, a 
body holding under the State, made up of appointees by Norfolk, 
Portsmouth and the county of Norfolk, as already said. 

Water Supply : Norfolk derives its water supply from Lakes 
Lawson and Smith, which are connected, five miles out northeast, and 
from Lake Bradford, seven miles in the same direction. 

The works are owned by the city. 

They comprise, besides these lakes, pumping stations at the lakes 
and at Moore's Bridge, five miles off, ten miles of principal supply 
pipes, twenty-three of distributing mains, five hundred consumers' con- 
nections, and two hundred fire hydrants in the city and its outskirts. 
They are being extended also to embrace a lake still further off. 

The modus operandi of distribution is the well-known Holly plan. 

The pumps number eight — three at the Lakes and five at the 
Bridge, which is the main pumping station. The supply is equal to the 
requirements of a city many times Norfolk's size, viz.: twenty-nine 
million gallons daily. The water is clear, palatable and wholesome. 

There are still some rain-water cisterns in use by house-holders, 
but they are almost entirely out of date. There is only one artesian 
well of any note in the city, that of the Hygeia Ice Company. It 
flows 60,000 gallons an hour. Many ships calling here, men-of-war 
especially, replenish their water butts from Lake Drummond, in the 
adjacent Dismal Swamp. This water is colored by the juniper and 
cypress of the swamp. It has special keeping qualities. 



26 



NORFOLK, VA. 



Street Lighting: The use of gas-lamps for street lights has 
been entirely abandoned at Norfolk ; the arc light only is in use. The 
city pays for two hundred and twenty of these; one hundred and live 
of them are furnished by the City Gas-Light Company, which is also 
an electric-lighting company, and one hundred and fifteen by the Electric 
Company of Virginia. No street lights are maintained by private par- 
ties, except those of the wharf owners. Though the city does not light 
the water front, or harbor, the waterside is, nevertheless, pretty well 
illuminated by private enterprise. 



PUBLIC HEALTH -CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. 

^^HE conditions affecting the public health of Norfolk have steadily 
^^ improved with the extension of a Waring Sewer System, begun 
ten years ago, and the sanitary administration as now conducted by the 

Health Officer, 
under the city's 
Board of Health 
with police as- 
sistance, costs 
only the nomi- 
nal sum of 
$3,000- a year. 
The newly an- 
nexed territory 
is not yet thor- 
oughly sewered 
but the work 



is progressing 
fast. 

Warned by 
the frightful ex- 
ample of Mem- 
phis, during that city's terrible yellow-fever plague of 1878, Norfolk 
fore-handedly commissioned the great Civil Engineer Waring to plan 
its sewers for it, and with some modifications his propositions have been 
given effect. To be plain, there is no natural drainage here at all; the 
city is on a dead flat, only four or five feet above sea level, so that a 
well- defined sewer system was, to Norfolk, an absolute necessity. 

The system which has been provided is of iron, stone and terra 
cotta pipe, and twenty-eight miles in length — i. e\, covering the whole 
city within the limits, excepting three or four miles' length of streets. 

The promoters of new suburban additions have all been enterpris- 
ing in this same direction, so that whatever else it lacks, Norfolk is well 
sewered and drained throughout. 

There is stringent Quarantine at Norfolk, and regular sanitary 
inspection, so that imported epidemic is little to be feared. 

The police make quarterly inspections of the entire corporation, 
and the special sanitary inspector of the Board of Health is engaged 
steadily in the investigation of complaints. 

The Climate, modified both summer and winter by proximity to 




RETREAT FOR THE SICK, NORFOLK. 



PORT AND CITY. 27 

the sea, and especially mellowed by the neighboring Gulf Stream, is 
mild, equable and agreeable at all seasons. It is much milder than on 
the same parallel inland on this account. 

The Mean Temperature is about 79 degrees in summer and 40 
in winter. The average annual rainfall is 50 inches. 

The presence of the numerous Seaside Resorts in the environ- 
ment of the city, which are patronized both in summer and winter, are 
evidence enough of the climatic moderation of this district without fur- 
ther remark. 

There are no diseases especially prevalent at Norfolk or in its 
vicinity. Malaria is practically unknown. The Chesapeake and Vir- 
ginia sea coasts are singularly free from fogs, and with such excellent 
sewerage, Norfolk is, for the white person, housed comfortably, living 
cleanly and well nourished, one of the most healthful cities of the world. 

The Death Rate for the whites is about seventeen to the thousand 
of population; a rate, too it should be noted, naturally much augmented 
by its floating population of health-seekers and Jack Tars. 

The rate for the negro population is nearly and sometimes more 
than double that of the whites. But this is the case wherever 
they are. 

The city maintains an Almshouse, but no public hospital. There 
are, however, three private institutions of that sort of more than ordi- 
nary facilities and advantages, viz. : The Retreat for the Sick, St. Vin- 
cent's Catholic Infirmary, and the United States Naval Hospital on the 
Portsmouth side. 

LAW AND ORDER. 

mORFOLK is, for a seaport, and a Southern one at that, with a 
large population of negroes, an exceedingly orderly place. It 
has, like all true ports, to be sure, its "havens" and "retreats" for 
Jack ashore; its variety shows and so-called concert halls, and in its 
general night-side aspects differs little from maritime cities everywhere 
in this country, or for that matter, the world. 

"Sunday Law" is rigorously enforced at Norfolk. Gambling 
and the social evil are under police ban. They proceed, if at all, 
screened from observation, and are vigorously suppressed wherever 
known. 

A Police Force of sixty-five is now maintained, and this number 
is to be increased shortly, so as to cover thoroughly the annexed 
territory. 

Fire Department: Norfolk's Fire Corps consists of fifty-three 
men, nineteen of them " paid " and regularly employed, and thirty-four 
" call " or running men, under a chief. 

The equipment of the department embraces five steamers, two of 
them new; two hook-and-ladder trucks, five hose carriages, thirteen 
horses and a chemical engine. Additional facilities are provided in a 
Gamewell alarm, covering pretty much all the city, and one hundred 
and fifty fire-plugs, located very generally throughout the corporate 
limits, with fifty additional outside. The water supply is ample for fire 
purposes. The pressure afforded by the mains is sufficient for all 
emergencies. 



28 NORFOLK, VA. 

STREET RAILROADS, FERRIES, ETC. 

HLTIIOUGH street railroads, and the other facilities for urban and 
suburban transit, are not, strictly speaking, public enterprises, 
yet the public interest in them is great, because of the fact that thev 
operate under a public franchise, and are indispensable public conve- 
niences, and, in a sense, community improvements. As a subject, 
therefore, they naturally fall under the governmental head. 

The transit system, available to Norfolk for communication through- 
out the city and its environment, embraces — 

i. Eighteen miles' length of street railroads, of which ten miles 
are in Norfolk, six in Portsmouth and two in Berkley. 

2. An electric line eight miles to Ocean View, a narrow-guage 
road eighteen miles to Virginia Beach, and electric lines to all outlying 
suburban villages. 

3. The public ferries between Norfolk and Portsmouth, owned by 
the county, but operated under lease by a firm. 

4. The railroad ferries to Old Point and Newport News. 

5. The various railroads centering at the city, which supplement 
the local suburban transit facilities. 

EDUCATIONAL. 

I^UBLIC SCHOOLS are maintained at the expense of city and 
■IT State, and they are conveniently located in the several wards. 
Provision is made for the colored, who occupy separate buildings, 
entirely apart, with teachers to each. 

Private Schools for male and female pupils of high and medium 
grade are numerous, and Parish Schools are maintained for both sexes 
of whites by the Catholic and Protestant denominations. 

There is a colored mission school for both sexes, founded in 1883 
by the Freedmen's Board of United Presbyterian Church of America, 
and is supported by that body. It has a faculty of eleven teachers and 
an attendance of about 600 students. 

f^ir* Freight rates cut a big figure with the tiller of the soil, as well 
as the business man and manufacturer. We ship one bbl. or 100 bbls. of 
potatoes, apples, onions, beets, turnips, etc., to New York or Philadel- 
phia for 25c. each, or half bbl. for 14c. We send up kale, cabbage, 
spinach, etc., for 17c. per bbl. We send up corn by steamer at 3c. a 
bushel, and by sail vessel at 5c. We send an early spring lamb, in April, 
for 50c. and sell at $5.00 to $8.00 per head. We send a 30 doz. crate 
of eggs up for 15c. per crate, or *^c. per doz. In fact, as regards 
freight rates, we are practically in the suburbs of New York and Phila- 
delphia. This is an important point to carefully consider. Eastern 
Virginia and North Carolina are as near to New York, practically, as 
most portions of New Jersey. 

d^ilP'The first steam vessel to ply between Norfolk, Va., and 
New York was built at Norfolk in 182 1, owned and constructed by 
Norfolk mechanics. She was named the "New York," a steam 
brig, engine and machinery imported from England. 



PORT AND CITY. 

CHURCHES AND CHARITIES. 



2 9 



'^T^HERE are prosperous churches of every creed and denomination 
^^ at Norfolk. The church architecture is the most impressive in 
the place. 

The Y. M. C. A. 
of Norfolk is in a 
thrifty condition. It 
has 550 members. It 
occupies a handsome 
new building put up 
for it a short time ago, 
and provided with 
baths, " gym," reading 
and lecture rooms, and 
the usual concomitants 
of such organizations 
in other cities. There 
is a cut of this building 
on another page. 

The Charities 
have generous support 
at Norfolk. The city 
maintains an almshouse 
and poor farm and free 
dispensaries for the un- 
fortunate and afflicted. 
The Catholic Church supports one Orphan Asylum and the Protestants 
another. The Retreat for- the Sick is a hospital, with free beds, 
which are supported by the various churches, and a colored ward. 




EPWORTH M. E. CHURCH, SOUTH, NORFOLK, VA. 



The Nor 
oldest charity 
It supports a 
wrecked and 
plot in El m- 
with Christian 

The Hos- 
standing in its 
the corner of 




ST. LUKE'S CHURCH, NORFOLK, VA. 



folk Seamen's Friend Society is the 
of the city. It was founded in 1826. 
bethel and chaplain, cares for ship- 
distressed mariners, and maintains a 
wood Cemetery, in which to bury them 
rites. 

pital of St. Vincent de Paul, 
own spacious and handsome grounds at 
Wood and Church streets, is a fitting 
monument to the memory of 
two esteemed members of 
this community, long since 
departed, and is an endur- 
ing testimonial of the ser- 
vices rendered suffering hu- 
manity by the noble order 
that now manages and main- 
tains it. 

This hospital has 105 
private rooms and seven 
wards, the whole furnishing 



3 o NORFOLK, VA. 

accommodations for 200 patients or more. The medical staff numbers 
eleven of the leading physicians of the city. Patients who are able, 
are expected to pay for the benefits of the institution, but those who 
are not, are treated free of charge. 

The baths — Turkish, Russian, Massage, Electric and Roman — 
are features of the establishment, and for a trifling consideration are at 
the service of the general public as well as of the inmates of the 
hospital itself. 

The Mary F. Ballentine Home for the Aged was a few 
weeks ago presented by deed to a Board of Trustees, to whom is left 
the duty of deciding who shall be admitted to it. It was built by 
Mr. Thomas R. Ballentine, the wealthy truck farmer, and is the fulfil- 
ment of a suggestion made to him by his now deceased wife, many 
years ago. It will be forever an undenominational home for the aged 
of both sexes, and will prove a great blessing to many of the poor who 
will in the years to come find rest and shelter there. It is situated 
in Brambleton Ward, is a handsome structure of four-story brick, 
with terra-cotta trimmings, and will easily accommodate fifty or 
more inmates. It will be furnished appropriately throughout, by the 
donor, who will likewise maintain it during his life time, and at his 
death, endow it. The trustees, ten in number, have been selected from 
our best citizens, to whom is intrusted the duty of formulating rules and 
regulations for its government. Its cost is about $75,000, and it is 
indeed a noble, and much needed charity. 

LIBRARIES-WORKS OF ART-MUSIC. 

^^HERE are three collections of books accessible to the public at 
\^ Norfolk — the library of the Norfolk Library Association, 8,000 
volumes; the Library of the Y. M. C. A. and the Law Library of 
the city. 

There are, however, many fine private libraries here, and many 
costly paintings; among the latter some of the oldest family portraits 
in the State, many of them those of celebrities and worthies of Colonial 
and other early times. 

There is, moreover, no lack of antiquities and souvenirs of the 
past. There is St. Paul's Church, the ancient tabernacle, to which we 
have already referred; there is the museum of relics and trophies at the 
Navy-Yard; there are the old homesteads, like those we have incidently 
mentioned, and some older, even, if you go outside the town. 

Music is cultivated very generally in the homes of the city, and 
while there is no specially important musical organization, musical 
entertainments are popular. Bands play at all the resorts; concert and 
opera are well attended; the theatre is liberally patronized. 



Receipts of Corn at Norfolk, Va. : 

In 1888, 739,858 bushels. 
In 1895, 4,266,493 bushels. 
Receipts of Peanuts at Norfolk, Va. : 

In 1888, 289,162 bags of 4 bushels each. 
In 1895, 419,394 bags of 4 bushels each. 



PORT AND CITY. 31 

THE PRESS. 

mORFOLK supports five daily papers and several weeklies. 
The morning dailies are : 

The Virginian, M. Glennan, Owner. 

The Landmark, owned by a stock company, S. S. Nottingham, 
Manager. 

The New Daily Pilot, also owned by a stock company, W. B. 
Wilder, Manager. 

The afternoon dailies are: 

The Public Ledger, Edwards & Fiveash, Proprietors. 

The Evening News, J. C. Carroll, Business Manager. 

The weekly papers are: 

The Journal of Commerce, W. Thompson Barron, Proprietor. 

The Norfolk Herald, W. S. Copes, Editor and Proprietor. 

The Labor World, C. C. Houston, Editor and Manager. 

The Virginian and Carolinian, M. Glennan, Proprietor. 

The Cornucopia, a monthly publication, published by A. Jeffers, 
and devoted to farming and general agriculture. (See advertise- 
ment). 

Portsmouth supports an afternoon daily: The Star, Paul C. 
Trugien, Editor and Proprietor. 

Newport News, a daily and weekly: The Commercial, John A. 
Robinson & Son, Editors and Proprietors. 

JgiT 5 Take an ordinary-sized map of the United States and lay 
your right hand, palm down, on the seaport city of Norfolk, with the 
thumb and forefinger pointing westward to Louisville, St. Louis and 
Cincinnati; the second finger pointing to Chicago; the third finger to 
Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia, and the little finger to New 
York and Boston, and you will see that all the best markets of the 
United States are really and truly at our fingers' ends. The freight 
rates are as low and the time so short between Norfolk and all the 
above-named points that the the best markets of the United States are 
practically at our fingers' ends. It is a fine thing to reach out to the 
great markets and find them within our reach — within easy reach — 
within cheap reach. A healthy competition between the steamer lines 
and the railways puts all the best markets of the United States at our 
fingers' ends. 

f5§P Hampton Roads is now nearly girdled with electricity. A few 
years ago when we modestly asserted that in ten years Hampton Roads 
would be girdled with an electric belt our assertion brought out a broad 
grin of skepticism, doubt and unbelief. Well, only half the time has 
gone and three-quarters of the circut is made. 

A few short years hence one can step on an electric car and in 
twenty-five minutes reach Sewell's Point ferry across to Old Point; take 
electric car and in twenty minutes reach Newport News ferry cross to 
Pig Point, at the mouth of the Nansemond ; take electric car for Ports- 
mouth and thence take the ferry for Norfolk, and make the entire trip 
for 25 to 30 cents, and do it in less than two hours time. The neatest 
little pleasure trip in the United States. 



32 



NORFOLK, VA. 

NORFOLK'S SOCIAL SIDE. 



©RGANIZATIONS, Social, Fraternal, Military, Athletic and 
Sporting, are very numerous here. Pretty near all the Secret 
Orders are represented. 

Aquatic Sports, for- 
merly very popular here, 
seemed to be on the wane, 
when a new club of 150 
members was organized — 
the Norfolk Boat Club. 
It has a new Club house 
and complete equipment. 
The pastimes- most in 
favor are those of the gun 
and rod. There are seve- 
ral shooting clubs, like the 
Ragged Island and Mar- 
tin's Point and other gun 
clubs, which have grounds 
and a club house at the 
head of Currituck Sound, 
not far from the city, and 
some of these have non- 
resident membership. The 
best shooting and fishing 
ire rapidly being taken by 




MERRIMAC CLUB, NORFOLK, VA. 



grounds, indeed, round about the city 
organizations of this kind. 

The principal social clubs are the Virginia and the Merrimac. 
The leading business and professional men of the city belong to one or 
the other of these. 

COMMERCIAL ORGANIZATIONS. 

'TpHE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, organized in 1801, re-organ- 
V^ ized in 1888, and, therefore, one of the oldest commercial bodies 
of the country. 

Those two dates, those of its institution and re-institution, are 
engraved on its seal. It is a coincidence that each marks an era of 
prosperity in the history of Norfolk. 

It is not, however, for its age only that this body is distinguished. 
It is useful and influential as well. The work it undertakes is indicated 
by the titles of its principal standing committees, showing the topics 
considered by it: 

The Chamber has representatives of all the industries and interests, 
financial, mechanical, mercantile and professional, of the city. 

It is, therefore, the special guardian of the city's commercial inter- 
ests, and the forum, so to speak, for its merchants of all sorts. It is 
still serviceable in that particular, although with the organization of 
other public bodies it confines itself to its own special field At the 
same time it is concerned, in the broadest sense, with the development 
of the industrial and manufacturing interests of the South. 



PORT AND CITY. 33 

Its officers are: W. W. Vicar, President; N. M. Osborne, 1st 
Vice-President; John L. Roper, 2nd Vice-President; Washington 
Taylor, Treasurer, and Samuel R. Borum, Secretary; and a board 
of fifteen directors. 

Maps and pamphlets are freely distributed by the Chamber, giving 
full information about Norfolk and vicinity. 

The Norfolk & Portsmouth Cotton Exchange is located in 
the marble front " Dodson " building, and has fine quarters fully 
equipped to gather the cotton statistics of the port 

Norman Bell, Esq., is the Superintendent and Secretary, now 
for many years, and is always ready to give information in that depart- 
ment of trade. 

J. W. Perry, an experienced factor in the staple, is President, 
and the Board of Directors are amongst the leading houses in 
that line. 

The Business Men's Association, organized in 1890, is char- 
tered to promote the business interests of the city "by drawing capital 
to it, and encouraging the location of mercantile and manufacturing 
concerns in it," to direct attention to the city's advantages, and particu- 
larly " to engender a more general and social intercourse amongst gen- 
tlemen of all branches of legitimate business residing in the city and 
its vicinity." 

Special stress is laid on the last-mentioned purpose, viz. : the social 
phase of its work. To this end comfortable and handsome apartments 
have been fitted up by the body, where its members may find relaxation 
and companionship, or may entertain visitors to the city with genuine 
old Virginia hospitality. 

Its officers are: Thomas H. Willcox, President; Walter Sharp, 
1 st Vice-President; E. E. Dawes, 2nd Vice-President; Charles 
Pickett, Secretary; W. Thompson Barron, Treasurer, and a board 
of fifteen directors. 

Other commercial organizations of the city are : 

The Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association. 

The Real Estate Exchange. 

The Builders' Exchange. 

The Wholesale Grocers' Association. 

The Clearing House. 

The Board of Underwriters. 

The Portsmouth Board of Trade. 

The Berkley and South Norfolk Mercantile and Maritime 
Association. 

l^gTWe need men and money. We need brain and improved 
machinery. We need more factories. The factories of the South art- 
paying the best of any in the United States. The climate and the low- 
priced labor tavors the manufacturing interests of the South. The entire 
South has a splendid future before it. The future of that portion tributary 
to Norfolk is especially bright. First, because of its great timber wealth. 
Second, because it is intersected by ten lines of railroads and two canals. 
Third, because of its fine agricultural lands, and fourth, because it has 
a medium temperature — neither too hot nor too cold. 



34 NORFOLK, VA. 

THE MARKETS LIVING- WAGES. 

mORFOLK, like New Orleans and San Francisco, is a city whose 
markets are abundantly supplied with the essentials of good 
cheer, and like these, also, is a city in which good living is, with many, 
a hobby and cult. 

This part of the State — the Tidewater country, so called — has 
something more than mere local renown for many of its productions. 
To say nothing of the oysters and shell-fish of these waters, which are 
simply unsurpassed, no district of the country enjoys such a variety 
and abundance of the finny tribes. Here you have not only the com- 
moner varieties, like the herring, mullet, perch, porgie, flounder, stur- 
geon, and all that, but the spot, chevallie, croaker, hogfish, sheephead, 
blue fish, bass, shad, Spanish Mackerel and pompano, one sort or the 
other coming in all the time. 

It is a great spring-lamb country; the first early muttons sent North 
are from here. Lynnhaven Bay is famous for its oysters; Hampton, 
for crabs; tlie Chesapeake and the North Carolina waters, for fish; 
Smithfield, for hams; Nansemond, for sweet Potatoes; all this coast 
country for vegetables and small fruits, and particularly for peaches. 

Isle of Wight and Southampton counties, not far from Norfolk, 
produce some 30,000 gallons of apple, peach and grape brandies a year 
(apple brandy mostly), of a very pure, wholesome and superior 
sort. 

At Charlottesville, Va., in the foot-hills of the Blue Ridge, a cele- 
brated claret — the Monticello — which originated with Jefferson, is 
made. The Virginia table wines, indeed, have been pronounced by 
foreign experts the only genuine wines made from the American stock 
of grapes, and the only wines as good as California's, which are from 
imported stocks. 

Living is, with such a market, very cheap here; and wages and 
salaries, generally speaking, are relatively as high as anywhere else in 
the land. 

There are several very good restaurants in Norfolk, devoted to the 
entertainment of the epicureans and bon vivants of the city. Several 
hotels, conducted on the American and European plans, afford good 
accommodation, and visitors in large numbers can be readily housed. 

jgir 3 Our Lumber Mills employ about five thousand (5 ,000) men ; 
their pay-rolls aggregate one hundred and fifty thousand ($150,000) 
dollars per month, or nearly two millions ($2,000,000) of dollars 
annually. In addition to these figures, these mills require thousands of 
dollars worth of provisions for their men, and many more thousands of 
dollars worth of hay and feed for the great number of cattle employed 
in hauling timber and logs out of the forest. This, together with a 
large amount paid out for chains, axes, rope and other supplies needed 
in this work, places the lumber interest, in this immediate locality, very 
far ahead in the line of home profit and production of any other branch 
of business enterprises in our midst; and it is growing larger and larger 
every year in order to supply the increasing demand from all parts of 
this great country for Southern pine lumber. 



PORT AND CITY. 35 

THE NEW ATLANTIC HOTEL, 

'^T'HE leading hostelry of this city, is as good a house as there is in 
Vv the land. It is an imposing structure, built on three sides of a 
parallelogram, having a frontage on Main street of 250 feet, on Granby 
of 208 feet, and on Randolph about 180 feet. It is four stories high, 
surmounted by a Mansard roof (making six floors in all), with pavillions 
rising from the angles of the roof as well as smaller ones intervening. 

A court-yard, partially enclosed by the house, is sodded and adorned 
with potted plants, and has in it a sparkling fountain to cool the heated 
summer air. 

Electric bells, warm and cold baths, comfortable elevators and easy 
stairways are other features that give the house its character for attrac- 
tiveness, convenience and comfort. 

The kitchen, superintended by an accomplished chef, serves in the 
best style known to the culinary art all those luxuries of sea and shore 
for which the environs of Norfolk are famous. The service of the 
house requires the work of 100 employees, and within it 1,000 guests 
can be lodged. It is estimated that at least 125,000 persons are enter- 
tained here annually. 

R. S. Dodson, Proprietor; R. A. Dodson, Manager. 



"Herein is one of the omens of magnificent future success — 
that Norfolk is no merely evanescent creation of the "land specu- 
lator" and "town site boomer" of to-day. Her history of more than 
two centuries is an indication of the solidity to be found embodied in 
even her most modern enterprises. With a population of 70,000; 
with a general trade that has reached a total of $100,000,000 per 
annum; with a lumber trade of 350,000,000 feet per annum; with a 
market for 600,000 bales of cotton annually ; with a climate that seems 
to be perfection itself, and with natural resources in the territory 
tributary to it that are not surprssed anywhere in the world, what 
wonder is it that even the most critical and conservative observers 
grow enthusiastic?" — New York Mercantile and Financial Times. 

IglP " Nature has ordained and selected Norfolk to be a trade 
center. Nineteen steamship lines and nine railroads have been drawn 
by its facilities. A line drawn from Delaware Bay, running west 
along the northern line of Iowa and the Dakotas, and running between 
Washington and Oregon, marks the equi-distant points from New 
York and Norfolk, and leaves four-fifths of the United States nearer 
to Norfolk than New York City (see Commodore Maury's map), 
and with the increasing connections by rail with that part of the 
Union, this city is bound to grow in importance and at a rapid pace. 
One industry after another is locating here, increasing the trade and 
population, and in every way the future of Norfolk grows brighter 
day by day." — Correspondence Washington Post. 

JggT' " The splendid natural advantages of Norfolk for the promo- 
tion of commercial undertakings cannot forever go unnoticed. As Vir- 
ginia's resources shall be developed it must follow that the finest harbor 
on the Atlantic coast will be the seat of one of the finest cities in the 
United States." — Philadelphia Record. 



36 NORFOLK, VA. 

SEASIDE RESORTS. 

* [VIRGINIA BEACH, and its famous "Princess Anne" Hotel, are 
\lf eighteen miles due east from Norfolk, on the shore of the Atlantic, 
and are reached by the Virginia Beach and Southern Railroad, a 
narrow-guage steam line, which makes the trip in forty minutes, stops 
included, at Lynnhaven, Oceana, London Bridge and other villages 
shipping oysters, fish and truck. This little road, indeed, has a hand- 
some freight traffic. For its mileage, it is the largest carrier of truck 
entering the city. As much as 6,000 barrels of fish alone have been 
handled by it in a month. 

This company has succeeded in making the Beach and hotel one 
of the favorite American seaside resorts. Its enterprise has been of 
great advantage to Norfolk — of three-fold advantage, indeed; in the 
first place, by drawing wealthy summer visitors; in the second, by 
developing trade along the line, and in the third, by providing a place 
of recreation for the residents of the city themselves. 

The Princess Anne is an imposing structure of modern architec- 
ture and conveniences, which has accommodations for 500. An illus- 
tration herein shows it. It was located where it is for the surf-bathing 
particularly, but it has other diversions provided — boating and fishing 
and hunting on the bays and creeks adjacent; driving and riding 
through the aisles of the piney woods, and over the hard-packed beach 
for a distance of sixty miles, a greater stretch than anywhere else on 
the coast of the country. 

The Princess Anne is open the year round. 

The winter temperature here is about 54 degrees; that of sum- 
mer, 78, and the water is 76 in the long bathing season, lasting usu- 
ally from the middle of May to November. 

OCEAN VIEW. 

^llTUATED on Chesapeake Bay, eight miles due north of Norfolk, 
rmj and facing seaward with an outlook through the Capes, is this 
resort and hotel which is reached by the Norfolk and Ocean View 
Railroad. Hotel and road are owned by the same company. They 
represent an investment of $100,000. 

The attractions at Ocean View are bathing in both still and surf 
waters, boating and fishing; the latter especially good. This is the 
haunt of the hogfish, the most highly prized of pan fish hereabouts, 
and the place is not far distant from the far-famed " Lynnhaven " beds 
of the oyster. 

The city people frequent this place all summer long; the road 
derives its revenue largely from them ; the hotel is supported by people 
from other parts. It is a house of modern appointments, with accom- 
modations for 250 guests. 

An electric road furnishes the transportation the year round; in 
the summer months trains run each way every half hour. Great 
improvements have recently been made there in all departments, and 
thousands go there every day to enjoy a bath, or feast on the fish, crabs 
and oysters. 



PORT AND CITY. 37 

CHARACTERISTIC LINES OF TRADE. 

Figures as to Cotton, Lumber, Truck, Coal, Peanuts, Fish, 

Oysters, etc. 

OUR COTTON TRADE. 

mORFOLK is the fourth cotton port of the United States, and its 
cotton trade has been developed since 1865 — prior to that time 
the receipts of the staple being insignificant. 

During the twelve months ending August 31, 1895, the net receipts 
of cotton at Norfolk were 472,540 bales, the total receipts in twenty- 
one years being 11,162,929 bales. The total distribution for year end- 
ing August 31, 1895, was 477,422 bales, a total in twenty-one years of 
11,134,674 bales. 

The Norfolk & Portsmouth Cotton Exchange was organized in 
June, 1874, an d ^ s ^ n tne twenty-second year of its existence. The 
cotton trade of Norfolk extends over Virginia, North and South Caro- 
lina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee, including at times 
Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas. 

The rapid development of the railway systems of the South must 
eventually concentrate at Norfolk as the grand commercial entrepot of 
the South Atlantic States. 

January 1st, 1896, the Southern Railway Company established its 
deep water terminal at Norfolk, transferring its entire business at West 
Point, Va., to the port of Norfolk. This system constitutes the seventh 
addition to the feeders of Norfolk's trade. 

To Norman Bell, Esq., Superintendent and Secretary of our 
Cotton Exchange, we are indebted for the above figures. 

FIGURES ABOUT "NORTH CAROLINA PINE" LUMBER. 

^ji^MBRACED in that territory lying north of Wilmington, east of 
jJ^j the Turpentine belt of Southern North Carolina and extending to 
the Piedmont region, extending east to the Atlantic Ocean, and north to 
the James River in Virginia, lies the Short Leaf or " North Carolina 
Pine " belt. 

This territory is composed of forty counties in North Carolina and 
thirteen counties in Virginia containing an area of 14,500 square miles. 

In this region there are 300 saw mills, one-fourth of which are 
equipped with dry kilns and modern appliances. These mills turn out 
about 800,000,000 of boards and bill stuff annually, and at least ninety 
per cent, of it finds a market north of Norfolk. 

Norfolk is the great center of " North Carolina Pine "lumber, ant 
it can be said of this port that the amount manufactured here, and that 
which passes through in transit North, exceeds 500,000,000 feet. 

Eight railroads, with the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal, have 
their terminals within the harbor of Norfolk, and they all contribute in 
bringing in that enormous bulk of lumber and log freight, the most of 
it distributed here. All the logs brought in, with the exception of hard 
wood logs are manufactured and kiln dried by the saw mills of Norfolk 
and suburbs. 



38 NORFOLK, VA. 

The canal, as well as the railroads deal liberally with the lumber- 
men, and have done much to advance their interests and to increase 
the output. 

Receipts at Norfolk, 1888 to 1895, inclusive: 

Total lumber, 2,096,918,695 feet. 
" logs, 849,448,277 » 

Exported to foreign markets, 1888 to 1S95 inclusive, lumber and 
logs valued at $4,190,456. 

The following comparison of receipts in 1869 as given in a publi- 
cation at that time, with the record since 1890, is an interesting item at 
this point. 

Receipts of lumber at Norfolk for 1869 was reported to be 26,153,418 
feet, bear in mind, for the entire year. 

Since 1890 the receipts for a single month, as here given, show 
what the growth of the trade has been: 

Receipts for July, 1890, 27,299,479 feet. 
" May, 1891, 26,723,153 << 
" April, 1892, 29,440,903 " 
" April, 1893, 34,649,215 " 
" August, 1894, 37,969,326 " 
" May, 1895, 35*753,351 " 
Total receipts of lumber in 1895, 324,869,264 feet. 
" " logs in 1895, 115,026,631 " 

ESTIMATING THE TRUCK TRADE. 

mORFOLK may reasonably claim to be the center of the greatest 
market garden district in the United States, and for the first time 
in the history of the country the Census Bureau in 189 1 issued a bulle- 
tin on truck farming, which threw a flood of light upon an industry 
hitherto in darkness. 

Figures then given by this census investigation were very surpris- 
ing to many well-informed people when it was shown that the annual 
products of the twelve census districts of the United States reached a 
value of $76,507,155, on the farms, after paying freights and 
commissions. 

In these figures the Norfolk district is given a trucking area of 
45,375 acres and a product value of $7,692,859. 

In the eight Southeastern counties of Virginia (not including Acco- 
mac and Northampton, which are in the Peninsula district) and the 
eight Northeastern ones of North Carolina, in what is known as the 
Norfolk district, there are numerous bays, rivers and creeks of tide 
water, upon which either small steamers, sailing vessels or flat boats 
are used to transport truck direct from the farm to the large steamer 
docks at Portsmouth, Norfolk or Old Point Comfort. An estimate 
made by producers and shippers in 1879 placed the value of the veg- 
etable and berry crop for that year at $1,751,645, while for the cen- 
sus year ended June, 1890, the value of the vegetable crop alone, 
as indicated by reports on special schedules received from truckers, 
was ^5,773,467.25. 

The season of 1889 was an unfavorable one in nearly all sections 



PORT AND CITY. 



39 



of the country for the truck farmer, yet the following vegetables were 
shipped from Norfolk: Vegetables— beets, 2,900 barrels; cabbage, 
347,130 barrels; kale, 177,707 barrels; onions, 4,800 barrels; radishes, 
4,208 barrels; squashes, 1,750 barrels; turnips, 2,600 barrels; Irish 
potatoes, 325,000 barrels; sweet potatoes, 225,000 barrels; spinach, 
122,829 barrels; asparagus, 28,000 boxes, containing two and three 
dozen two-pound bunches; string beans, 80,935 boxes; cucumbers, 
46,280 boxes; onions, 9,600 boxes; radishes, 8,417 boxes; squashes, 
3,500 boxes; tomatoes, 350,000 boxes; in addition there were shipped 
from the same point 863,152 melons, and 180,949 packages of miscel- 
laneous vegetables, making a total of 2,789,557 pieces shipped from 
Norfolk during the census year. 

Three factors combine to further its development: Soil — the finest 
garden lands in the world: Climate — the South Temperate, mellowed 
and evened by the great Gulf stream; and Market — large cities 
nearby readily reached by both water and rail. 

Nine lines of railroad, with sidings into the truck fields, penetrate 
this district. Three coastwise and seven bay and river lines, touching 
at all landings, terminate here. Two canals are cut through the district. 
In addition to the advantage of competitive freight rates, this region 
near Norfolk, particularly, enjoys exceptional advantages in its local 
highways, natural and artificial, for instance: 

There are eleven shell roads radiating from the three cities on this 
harbor, with total length of seventy-five miles; and there are no finer 
country pikes in the land than these. 

Again : there is not a farm within the ten-mile limit (referred to on 
the start) more than three miles from navigable water; most, indeed, 
are right on some one or other of the innumerable arms of the bay or 
rivers flowing into it. Into and out of all these arms, the tide ebbs and 
flows, and advantage is taken of the current to float produce out on the 
ebb, and make the return trip at flood — a primitive Old World method, 
perhaps it is, but positively the cheapest transportation from farm to 
market on the globe. 

So we see that the fortunate trucker in the environment of Norfolk 
can send in his crop either by steam, sail, or flat boat; by rail or by 
canal, or can haul in on his farm wagon over the finest roads in the 
world. 

There are some other things, too, in connection with this trucking 
business that merit remark. In the first place, it goes hand in hand as 
a source of wealth, with the oyster and fishing business. The boats 
and the hands when not at one, find work at the other. 

In the next place there is scarcely another business in which so 
great a proportion of the gross returns go to the laborer. It is hand 
labor from first to last. And then the hands are paid weekly and the 
money goes straight into circulation. 

Hgir Norfolk offers unequalled advantages for the establishment 
of mechanical industries, large and small. There is hardly any indus- 
try that can be mentioned which would not find at Norfolk a favorable 
location for the manufacture, sale and distribution of its product, as 
well as for the cheap gathering of its material and labor. 



40 NORFOLK, VA. 

THE COAL TRADE. 

COAL, the fourth largest item of trade at Norfolk, is, with the 
increasing output of the Virginia and West Virginia fields, the 
increased demands of bunker business, and the growth of the city in 
population and manufactures, conspicuous among the seven for its rapid 
growth. 

The Norfolk and Western's Lambert's Point establishment is the 
largest enterprise, of course, in the trade here. Reference has been 
made to it in other connections herein, but under this head some few 
further facts are pertinent. 

The Norfolk and Western road was completed to Pocahontas, 
Tazewell County, Va., in 1883. A corporation, auxiliary to the rail- 
road, was already engaged in mineral developments along the projected 
line of the road, and the very next day after Pocahontas was reached 
the first car-load of this now famous coal was sent to Norfolk. It found 
favor as soon as introduced. 

The piers were located in 1884, chiefly by the efforts of Col. 
William Lamb, the General Agent in Norfolk. Improvements have 
been made from yeur to year since, until now there is landing capacity 
(with electric lights) equal to 22,500 tons in twenty-four hours. 

In case of exigence the work is carried on all night. Three hours' 
notice may be given by vessels coming in by signal at Cape Henry, 
and the Health Officer will be on hand. Tups are furnished free in 
stormy weather. There is at the piers twenty-six feet of water (mini- 
mum), and eight steamers can load at a time. 

In 1885 there were 45 ocean steamers coaled at these piers and 402 
other vessels laden. In 1892 there were 484 steamships bunkered, and 
1,825 craft of all kinds loaded. 

In 1886 there was handled here 504,153 tons; in 1892, 1,654,298 
tons, valued at $5,000,000. There has been handled here during the 
last eight years 12,221,623 tons. 

There are 220 employees at these piers. 

This Pocahontas coal is of such superior quality that it is used for 
the tests of speed upon new warships and for record-breaking by the 
big Atlantic liners. Already it has been pronounced in England the 
rival, destined to supplant as standard, the renowned Welsh coal. 

Received at Lambert piers, 1888, 938,369 tons. 

Received at Lambert piers, 1894, 2,198,497 tons. 

The Pocahontas is the staple here, and local dealers handle at 
least 150,000 tons a year. 

tSir 3 There is no point in the South where the " raw material " may 
be gotten together as cheaply as on this harbor. There is abundant and 
" cheap labor," also " cheap steam coal " of the very best quality; and 
there seems to be no real or substantial obstacle to the making of Norfolk 
a first-class manufacturing point. The natural advantages are here. 
All that is needed to utilize the same, is capital and experience. 

With an abundance of rail and w r ater lines for transportation to 
all parts of the country, reasonable rates of freight may always be 
obtained. 



PORT AND CITY. 41 

THE PEANUT TRADE. 

^"HE TIDEWATER region of Virginia and North Carolina is 
^^ the home, and principal source of this popular product, which 
has grown up since 1876. At that time the total crop of the South 
only amounted to about 100,000 bags, or say 400,000 bushels, of 
which Tennessee furnished very few in comparison with the Virginia 
and North Carolina Crop. A full crop now, reaches six or eight 
times the foregoing figures; and the demand for this toothsome nut 
finds sale all over the United States and in Canada. Several large facto- 
ries are here engaged in cleaning them for market, grading them from 
strictly prime to inferior, and the price per pound rates accordingly. In 
the several establishments five or six hundred hands are employed, 
mostly women and children, and the wages paid equals $100,000 annually. 

Not less than $200,000 capital is employed in the business, and 
it is one which Norfolk must enjoy as a monopoly, it being the 
nearest distributing point for the crop producing region. 

The receipts in Norfolk for years 1888 to 1895, inclusive, were 
as follows: 

1888, 289,162 bags, 1892, 404,514 bags, 

1889, 175,964 " 1893, 361,501 « 

1890, 138,161 <• 1894, 43°>7 2 4 " 

1891, 339> 82 ° " !895> 4 T 9>394 " 

The bags or sacks contain four bushels each, and a bushel of 
unshelled nuts is 22 pounds. Statistics of the trade prior to 1888 
are not available. 

THE OYSTER TRADE. 

'^T^HE oysters that are handled in this port are nearly all " tonged " — 
\^ that is, scraped off their rocky beds with a concern exactly like 
two huge garden rakes geared on the principle of a pair of tongs. 
Scarcely any dredged oysters come here. Those taken with tongs are, 
of course, out of comparatively shoal water and are the best. 

They are taken principally in the York, Rappahannock, Nanse- 
mond and James Rivers and Pocomoke Sound. The famous Lynn- 
haven oyster is obtained in Lynnhaven Bay, just inside of Cape Henry. 
These, the gourmands say, " beat the world." But the whole quantity 
taken is very small and cuts no figure in the total business of the port. 
They are all shipped in the shell for fancy restaurant and hotel trade. 

With the exception of the few shipped in the shell, the oysters are 
all shipped in bulk, in barrels or tubs (iced) and go to every State east 
of the Missisissippi, and even as far west as Kansas City and some few 
to Europe. The bulk, however, goes to New York and the New Eng- 
land States. 

There are about twenty-three firms or establishments engaged in 
packing and shipping oysters here. They handle 2,500,000 bushels, 
representing a value of $2,000,000 or upwards, and employ a capital of 
$500,000 in the aggregate. 

About 1,500 or 2,000 people are employed in " shucking," pack- 
ing, etc., here, and an equal number in gathering and bringing the 
catch to the wharves; 3,500 seems to be a fair estimate for the total of 
hands engaged. 



42 NORFOLK, VA. 

MERCHANDISE RECEIPTS 

AND TRADE FIGURES IN 1S95, COMPARED WITH I 

LUMBER PRODUCTS. 

ARTICLES l888 1895 

Lumber, ft 138,625,263 324,869,264 

Logs, «' 105,637,554 115,026,631 

Staves, M 3,552,779 

Shingles, " 30,714,540 38,575,659 

Railroad Ties, " 115,791 

HAY, GRAIN AND PEANUTS. 

Hay, tons 7,709 io, 8 73 

Corn, bushels 736,858 4,266,493 

Oats, " 247,970 330,!5 2 

Rough Rice, " 6,168 7,352 

Bran, " 103,442 146,824 

Wheat, " 138,338 33°,°°5 

Peanuts, bags 289,162 419,394 

GROCERIES AND PROVISIONS. 

Coffee, bags 10,024 J 3, 2 69 

Sugar, barrels 3°> I S4 54,°°7 

Cheese, boxes 14,168 29,463 

Butter, tubs 20,185 21,322 

Flour, barrels 181,798 324,732 

Flour, bags 2,300 104,443 

Fish, packages 23,989 41,389 

Meat, pounds 13,819,075 20,893,668 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Cotton Seed Oil, barrels 5,799 52,789 

Cotton Seed Meal, bushels 61,539 119,918 

Naval stores, barrels 14,198 20,421 

Horses, head 922 8,703 

Cattle, " 2,949 11,651 

Bituminous Coal, tons 938,369 1,714,680 

Pig Iron, » 38,545 93,658 

Coke, " 168 4,005 

f^gPThe reader will find in this pamphlet, page 2, an accurately- 
drawn map, showing Norfolk, its nearness to the ocean and the location 
of several growing towns and villages, improving and expanding in 
trade and population in proportion to the enterprise, public spirit and 
broad-mindedness of their several inhabitants. 

Within five or ten years they have each felt the benefit of Norfolk's 
progress, and by a large majority are taking advantage of it. 

From these thrifty suburbs our merchants derive a large business, 
and the ferries and roads which connect them with Norfolk realize also 
a goodly share of the general prosperity. 



PORT AND CITY. 43 

FOREIGN EXPORTS IN 1895. 

rV\lF the several articles of merchandise exported to foreign markets 
^■^ from Norfolk in 1895, we note the following: 

Cotton, bales 114,803 Value, $3,359,840 

Corn, bushels 3>545>3 6 3 " i,5 26 >54 6 

Flour, barrels 43>959 " 128,352 

Wheat, bushels 165,765 " 96,459 

Cotton Seed Oil, gallons 251,080 " 70,250 

Cotton Seed Meal, bushels 54>79 2 " 40,845 

Peanuts, bags 325 " 712 

Tobacco, pouuds 2,998,386 " 221,243 

Coal, Pocahontas, tons 109,888 " 389,428 

Coke I > 1 45 " 3> 222 

Staves and Headings " 177,138 

Miscellaneous " 680,169 

$6,694,204 
FOREIGN IMPORTS. 

1895 $187,485 

1894 100,169 

1893 109,957 

FIGURES AS TO SHIPPING. 

The following figures give the clearance tonnage of foreign shipping 
only, for the years named at Norfolk: 

1895 total tonnage, 481,739 

1894 " 624,053 

1893 " 675,986 

1892 " 696,217 

1891 " 789»39 6 

These clearances for the live years embraced about 2,500 sail and 
steam vessels, the latter being about 85 per cent, of the whole. 

BUILDINGS ERECTED IN NORFOLK, 

Reported by the Inspector of Buildings 1885-1895, inclusive, as follows: 

Brick 1 ,305 

Frame 1,148 

Total buildings 2,453 

Value buildings $5 ,290,600 

REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS, 

1890 to 1895, inclusive. 

Norfolk City $12,601,121 

Portsmouth City 2,401,848 

Norfolk County 11,644,937 

Total $26,647 ,906 

POSTAL RECEIPTS. 

^^HE postal revenues afford a very convincing proof of growth in 
^^ population and business, when in ten years the figures are 
doubled. Note the following as to Norfolk: 

Revenues in 1885 were $43,260.27 

Revenues in 1895 were 84,892.42 



44 



NORFOLK, VA. 
THE FACTORIES. 



GROWTH OF THE PRODUCTIVE INDUSTRIES OF NORFOLK. 

*ff N nothing more than in the growth of its Manufactures, does 

Norfolk show of late its enterprise and its progress. Prior to 1880 
it had no manufactures to speak of. Its whole manufactured output 
then, according to the Federal Census returns, was less than $1,500,000 
in value a year. 

It is to be within bounds to say that its annual factory product now 
(Berkley and Portsmouth included), is upwards of $10,000,000. 

For the sixteen years since 1880 it discloses, at a very moderate 
estimate, a seven fold manufacturing growth. 

This has been largely due to the vast increase of its lumber manu- 
factures, but not entirely so. Iron working, ship building, oyster pack- 
ing, peanut cleaning, and fertilizer making, have all grown, and the 
last six or seven years have been distinguished by the establishment 
here of no less than four cotton mills. 





tKOT.K, VA. 



The business of Cotton Goods Manufacture, indeed, has 
blossomed amazingly in the last few years — 4>495 bales of cotton being 
worked up in 1895 by these four mills. 

Meanwhile, too, all the ordinary lines already established, and 
especially those supplying the building trades, show marked advance. 

I51P Norfolk has a splendid system of street cars, traversing the 
entire city and suburbs, connecting with railway depots and steamship 
wharves. A large extension of these facilities is soon to be made, in 
order to keep pace with the rapid growth of suburban development. 

|3gF" As a distributing point for imports, Norfolk is already noted 
for the large field covered and the favorable freight rates. There is no 
city in the country that enjoys such low rates of freight to all the great 
consuming centers. 



PORT AND CITY. 45 

WONDERFUL STRIDES. 

♦fFN 1880, the whole amount of capital employed in manufactures 

here was, by the National Census of that year, less than $600,000; 
by 1890, it had grown to $3,120,820; and is very likely now nearer 
$10,000,000. 

In 1880, onty 750 hands were employed in all the manufactures of 
the city. Now, the lumber mills here alone, or the cotton mills, or the 
oyster packeries, employ more than that. The number of hands in 
manufactures given for 1890, by the Census, was 2,791. It is 3,5°° 
fully now, and very likely more. 

The wages paid in 1880 were $317,530; in 1890, $1,300,000; and 
now they are between $1,750,000 and $2,000,000. 

The manufactured product of 1880 ($1,455,987 inexact figures) 
had increased by 1890 to $4,634,263. At the rate of growth during 
the ten years between these two returns, to call it $10,000,000 now 
(with Portsmouth and Berkley added) is to be entirely fair. 

There were 105 manufacturing establishments of all sorts reported 
in the Census of 1880, and 366 in that of 1890, There must be upward 
of 500 now, perhaps 200 of which are above the grade of mere 
repair shops. 

Anions these 200 are the following;: 

Saw mills, 15; planing mills, 14; shingle mills, 2; cooperages, 4; 
basket works (fruit), 2 ; box factories, 3 ; truck barrel factories, 5 ; other 
wood-working concerns, 5. 

Brick works, 6; stone yards and marble works, 5 ; plumbing and 
other shops, roofing, etc., 20; iron works, 11; wagon works, 6; ship 
yards, 8; wreckers, 2; sailmakers, 4. 

Peanut factories, 3; oyster-packing houses, 23; fertilizer and 
chemical works; cotton mills, 5; clothing factories, 7; flour and grist 
mills, 2 ; bakers and confectioners, 5 ; ice works, 3 ; grocers' specialties, 3. 

LEADING LINES. 

X UMBER, building material of wood included, easily leads all the 
manufacturing lines here, both in number of establishments and 
product. 

Next that come five or six industries prominently — cotton goods 
first of them very likely, then peanuts (preparing the nuts for market), 
then oyster packing, then iron works (agricultural implement and wagon 
works included), then fertilizers, ship building (sail making, etc., 
included), and finally, metal working, chiefly roofing, plumbing, etc., 
connected with the building trades. 

There are 15 saw mills, cutting 160,000,000 feet of lumber anually ; 
14 planing mills, doing upwards of $900,000 of business a year; and 
2 shingle mills; in all making a total of $3,000,000 a year (for lumber 
manufactures only). 

The peanut factories number 3. The trade, jobbing and all, is 
estimated at $2,500,000 to $3,000,000 a year by those in it. 

There are 23 oyster dealers. This trade is, according to those 
engaged in it, $2,500,000 to $3,000,000 annually. 



4 6 



NORFOLK, VA. 



The fertilizer works (that made here) is valued at probably 
$2,000,000. 

The ship building and repairing and wrecking concerns aggregate 
something like $500,000 a year. 

The cotton mills of Norfolk are 4 in number, by name the Norfolk 
or Atlantic City Knitting Mills, the Chesapeake, Lambert's 
Point, and Elizabeth Mills, already in operation, and the new 
Portsmouth Mills, recently started up. 

They are all knitting mills, making children's and grown persons' 
underwear. They employ an average of 200 persons each; represent, 
all five, an aggregate investment of $600,000, and their total annual 
output is probably $1,000,000. 




TUNIS LUMBER CO.'S MILL AND YARD, BERKLEY SIDE. 



THE IRON INDUSTRY. 

*TVk NDER this head are establishments of two classes, viz.: first, 
^■\ machine shops, with their foundries, and second, agricultural 
implement factories. 

In the first of these classes there are 300 men emplo} r ed; $400,000 
capital, and the annual output is $350,000. They use $60,000 worth 
of pig and wrought iron a year, or 2,500 tons pig and 2,000 tons 
wrought iron. Their work at present is nearly all repair work on mill 
and steamboat machinery. They build boilers and occasionally small 
engines, and do also some architectural work. 

In the second class there are three establishments, representing 
$350,000 capital, employing 150 hands, and having an output of 
$400,000 worth of goods a year. Their chief market is the Northern 
and Southern States of the Eastern slope, though some goods are sold 
all over the Union. They use Virginia iron altogether and consume 
3,000 tons a year. 

U^" Steam, Naptha and Electric Launches. — This is the 
finest field for the little private, steam, naptha or electric launch in the 
United States. The Chesapeake Bay system of waters embraces fully 
2,500 square miles of the most beautiful and most productive waters in 
the world. This represents a land frontage on salt water 5,000 miles 
in length. The field is an immense one which should be covered as 
soon as possible by the manufacturer of launches. 



PORT AND CITY. 47 

MANUFACTURING OPPORTUNITIES. 

*^T*HE special advantages Norfolk affords for manufactures are 
^& these: 

1. An extensive and favorable field for enterprises both in lines 
already established and the many not yet attempted here. The tribu- 
taries of the city afford a first-class market, 

2. Cheap, convenient and roomy sites; some of them to be 
obtained (by concerns justifying it) Free. 

3. The fullest transportation facilities and competitive rates — 
water and rail. 

4. A most abundant and cheap fuel supply in the coal brought here. 

5. Abundance also of raw material in the iron, timber, cotton, 
grain, fruits and fish and other staples of its trade territory; upon which 
staples, manufactures are chiefly based. 

6. A plentiful and tractable labor supply in the numerous colored 
population and the augmenting element of whites. 

7. The incidentals of excellent water supply, low taxes, etc. 

8. And, generally, a sentiment favorable to such enterprises and 
a willing spirit manifested, on the part of business men and capitalists, 
to participate in and further such as are genuine. 

The following lines are suggested as affording opportunity for the 
profitable employment here of manufacturing capital: 

Furniture (in the abundance of both hard woods and soft here); 
Woodenware, in a similar advantage; Canneries and Packeries, 
in the oyster, crab, fish, and vegetable production here; Farming 
Implements, Carriage and Wagon Factories ; a Shoe Factory, of 
which there are as yet none ; a Hat Factory, which would likewise 
find a clear field; a Stove Foundry, for which the iron and coal is at 
hand; more sash and blind and building-finish works, more basket 
works, box factories and cooperages, and a Beet Sugar Mill. 

THE TUNIS LUMBER COMPANY. 

^H^OST prominent among the lumber manufacturers in Norfolk 
XII*) stand the Tunis Lumber Co. They came here several years 
ago when the business was in its infancy, so to speak, and through the 
knowledge and experience of Mr. W. W. Tunis, the head of the con- 
cern, a very large and probably the most extensive business in their 
line has been the result. The saw and planing mills of the company 
are of the most approved known to the business. They carry a very 
large stock on hand and are always i-eady to give orders prompt attention. 
The company employ a large number of hands and disburse large 
sums of money for material and labor. 

|J51P City Credit. — The securities of the city, which bear a low 
rate of interest, sell uniformly from five to ten per cent, above par, and 
are eagerly sought as investments. This is the best evidence of a 
healthy financial condition. 

Jgir'CosT of Living. — The cost of living in Norfolk will compare 
favorably with any other locality, the market affording a great variety. 



48 NORFOLK, VA. 

THE JOHN L/S ROPER LUMBER GO. 

^^HIS company ranks amongst the very foremost of the great indus- 
^^ trial concerns that have sprung up in the New South, and its 
operations are of a magnitude that gives it standing and reputation all 
over the eastern half of the Union. Its possessions are vast and valu- 
able. The manufacturing plants owned by it are at Gilmerton, on 
the Southern branch; at Deep Creek, two miles from Gilmerton, and 
at Roper, in Washington county, N. C. At Gilmerton, the premises 
are 220 acres in extent, and the mills, with fifty or sixty houses for the 
operatives, form a very considerable settlement. About 150 hands are 
employed there. JLarge wharves and a siding from the Norfolk and 
Western Railroad furnish ready means of shipping. The Deep Creek 
plant employs twenty-five or thirty men and is run chiefly on shingles 
and rails. At Roper the company has its largest establishment. Both 
pine and cedar are manufactured here ; from two to three hundred men 
are employed, and about a hundred buildings have been put up. The 
Norfolk and Southern Railroad has a branch line, over which the pro- 
duct of this establishment finds an outlet. 

Near Roper, and adjacent to the line of railway, the company 
owns over 100,000 acres of timber lands, covered with pine, cypress 
and cedar. Ramifying this enormous tract are about twenty miles of 
steel-rail tramway, operated by steam engines, and about an equal 
extent of wooden tracks, over which the cars are drawn by mules. 
Another 100,000 acres lying on the Alligator River and in the Dismal 
Swamp, comprise the rest of the lands owned by the company. 

The output finds a market all over the North, East and West, 
and the cedar is exported largely. 

The office and headquarters of the company is in Norfolk. 

THE OLD DOMINION CREOSOTING WORKS. 

*^T^HESE cover, with their yards, twenty-five acres at Money Point, 
^^ on the Southern branch of the Elizabeth River, the harbor of 
Norfolk, and have a water front of 3,000 feet, with shipping conven- 
iences for distribution to all parts of the world. They have the advan- 
tage also in that respect of the transportation facilities of the Norfolk 
and Western Railroad, which puts them in direct communication with 
all interior points and with the six other trunk roads centering here 
besides; but their greatest advantage over other concerns of the kind is 
in their proximity to the great lumber district of Virginia and North 
Carolina, which enables them to secure promptly timber for treatment 
in the shortest possible time. 

The works have an equipment second to none of the kind in the 
land, and they turn out a product which has been commended by 
experts everywhere as the nearest perfect of any. The process in use 
is, as the name implies, an application of the dead oil obtained from coal 
tar, commercially known as "creosote oil," an assured antiseptic, which 
experience has proven the best in use for preserving, at reasonable 
cost, lumber, cross-ties, telegraph poles, paving blocks, fence posts, 
sills, etc. * It is a defence also against the attacks of the teredo navalis, 
or ship worm. 



PORT AND CITY. 49 

These works practically monopolize the business in this port, and 
nearly all the permanently established shipping lines have within a few 
years replaced their worm-eaten piles and logs with this creosoted 
manufacture. The great value and ultimate saving to wharf owners in 
substituting the creosoted lumber is being recognized, and large orders 
have within three years come to these works from Canada and Nova 
Scotia ports. 

The works employ a large force and fill orders promptly. 

The office of the works is at 54 Main St., Norfolk, Va. 

VIRGINIA-CAROLINA CHEMICAL COMPANY. 

MITHIN a few months a branch of this company under the 
name of the Norfolk and Carolina Chemical Company has 
been organized and located in Norfolk, for the manufacture and scien- 
tific preparation of fertilizers of a high grade character, and a guarantee 
of the best and purest materials. Their plant is entirely new in every 
respect; buildings and machinery erected for the purpose, with scope 
and facilities for working 100 employes, and turning out an annual 
product of 40,000 tons or more of fertilizers, to stimulate and assist the 
growth of cotton, peanuts, corn, oats, tobacco, truck and all vegetable 
crops to early development and excellence in quality. 

The plant also embraces the manufacture of bone and potash fer- 
tilizers, and sulphuric acid of clean quality in large quantities. Also 
manufacture acid phosphate of reliable quality from the best phosphate 
rock, finely ground and rendered in excellent mechanical condition. 

Orders addressed to 38 Main street, Norfolk, will receive prompt 
attention. W. H. Urquhart is the manager. 

There are four or five other establishments, having no chemical 
apparatus, engaged in manipulating and compounding fertilizers, and 
there are also two or three agencies of northern factories, who dis- 
tribute from this point. The business altogether is a large one, 
employing 300 or more hands, and pay out about $70,000 a year. 

The total output from all these sources may be placed at not less 
than 100,000 tons, which at usual prices, gives a trade of $3,000,000 
a year. 

f^lP No city on the Atlantic coast embraces as many miles of deep 
salt water frontage, with equal beach, boating and bathing facilities. 

To Sewell's Point a frontage of nine miles is presented; then 
around Willoughby Spit to Ocean View, eight miles; to Lynnhaven 
Bay, 12 miles; to Cape Henry, 20 miles; and to Virginia Beach, 18 
miles distant from Norfolk City. 

At Ocean View and Virginia Beach there are hotels, but there is 
ample room and patronage for a dozen more, fronting severally, on 
Hampton Roads, Chesapeake Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean, — surely, 
here is abundant opportunity for good investments, and sure profits. 

I^JT' Around Hampton Roads, including Norfolk, Portsmouth, and 
Newport News and the smaller places, railroad and general business 
forces are concentrating in a manner to insure that locality's becoming one 
of the world's most important shipping centres. -Manufacturer's Record. 



50 NORFOLK, VA. 

SHIP BUILDING AT NORFOLK IN 1821. 

*ff~N the early years of the present century the building of sailing 
vessels was a large industry in Norfolk, and there were two or 

three ship yards here, finding constant employment for a great number 

of carpenters, joiners, caulkers, 
painters, sailmakers, etc., and 
the proprietors of these plants 
were among our most successful 
business men. 

In 1821 the idea of building 
and equipping a steam brig was 
discussed and William F. Hunt- 
er, a conspicuous shipwright of 
that day, built at his yard at the 
foot of Newcastle street the sec- 
ond ocean steam vessel, the first 
one, in fact, built south of New 
York. She was of 281 tons bur- 
den, and 50 horse power. Her 
owners were George Rowland, 
Charles N. S. Rowland, John 
Allmand, Captain Richard 
Churchward, John Tunis and 
William F. Hunter. The mo- 
tion of the machinery was 
steadied by a large fly wheel. 




TH F 

Steam "Brig NEW-YORK, 

Richard Churchward Mas'er, 

Wili kave here on Thursday, the 31s. 

inst. at 9 o'clock, 

FOE NEW-YORK, 

and will continue her regular run 10 leave 
NORFOLK, every other Thursday. 
For Freight or Passage apply to 

Wm. kewland 

Oct 22 '^\ ts 

~"n~ —J 



A SHIPPING ADVERTISEMENT IN 1822. 

She was launched inMay 1822, and made the trip from Norfolk to New 
York in fifty hours. 




THE STEAM BRIG NEW YORK, TAKEN FROM PAINTING IN SAILORS' SNlti HARBOR. 



PORT AND CITY. 



5i 



The announcement of her departure on the trial trip to New York 
was printed in the Norfolk Beacon of October 28th, 1822, and the 
illustration here given is a fac simile of the original advertisement. 
The rough cut was made at that day by local artists direct from the 
vessel, and a few years ago was found by Mr. Thomas B. Rowland, 
of this city, among the effects of his father, Mr. George Rowland, and 
presented to Captain H. A. Bourne, president of the Old Dominion 
Steamship Co., of New York, as a relic of the past. But Captain 
Bourne took a notion that the first steam vessel that plied the route 
seventy-four years ago, and the pioneer of a line between two such 
renowned ports as Norfolk and New York, should be preserved for 
posterity, and to that end, had an oil painting of this steam brig New 
York executed, which he presented to the " Sailors' Snug Harbor," at 
Staten Island. 

A few months ago Captain Bourne thought that the merchants 
and patrons of the Old Dominion Steamship Company in Norfolk 
should have a copy of that painting in the rooms of their Chamber of 




OLD DOMINION STEAMSHIP JAMESTOWN.— 3,000 TONS. 

Commerce, and with that idea in his mind had a duplicate made, and 
through the popular and efficent local agent of the company, Mr. M. 
B. Crowell, it was presented, and now adorns its walls. 

As a companion picture, an oil painting of one of their latest steel 
ships, the Jamestown of 3,000 tons burden, forms a striking contrast, 
and a lesson in the progress since made in ship building and marine 
architecture. 

Note— Captain James Brown, now a venerable and highly respected 
citizen of Portsmouth, Va., who, on the 27th of May, the current year, 
celebrated his 90th anniversary, was an apprentice in the establishment 
where the sails of the steam brig New York were made, and recollects 
many of the incidents connected with that enterprising period. 

From the Pilot, a maritime journal published in New York, which 
some months since printed the old cut, and a description of the steam 



52 NORFOLK, VA. 

brig New York, had this to say in concluding its article: " We have 
special pleasure in bringing to our readers' notice the push and energy 
of Norfolk men so far back as 1822. The statistics just published 
show that Norfolk is a long way ahead in tonnage and supremacy as a 
seaport in 1894, by comparison with other Southern seaports. Norfolk 
shows a large and growing trade, and not only holds her own, but 
more." 

(To Captain Bourne, President of the Old Dominion Steamship 
Company, we are indebted for the engravings used in illustrating 
this article.) 

AGRICULTURE AND TRUCK FARMING. 

MITHOUT doubt the section of country immediately tributary to Norfolk, has 
for all time every assurance of supremacy in regard to realizing the great- 
est profit from agricultural pursuits. In other words, the tillers of the soil near 
Norfolk have a guaranty of profit from their work, which is not promised to the 
farmer not so fortunately located. 

The soil here is especially adapted to farming purposes, it being a pliable, fine, 
easily cultivated and productive soil, lying on a sub-soil that is not only retentive 
of manure, but which is of itself rich and well supplied with plant food. The sur- 
face is slightly rolling and dips easily and slightly towards the " arms " of the sea 
that penetrate the land in each and every direction. 

The climate is one of means, and not extremes, and permits the growing of 
nearly all the fruits and vegetables of the temperate zones. Our latitude insures 
us a medium climate, and then, too, fhe Gulf Stream, that wonder of the seas, 
taking us under its special care and influence, still further modifying both the heat 
of summer and the cold of winter. 

We are connected both by water and by rail with all the seaboard markets, such 
as Boston, Providence, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, and 
through the seaports as gateways, our produce reaches all of the Northern and 
Eastern States, we also reach St. Louis, Cincinnati and Chicago, and all the coun- 
try tributary to said cities. 

A good road from the farm to the city adds fully one-half to the value of the 
average farm. 

Ten lines of railway cut the trucking belt in every direction, and all these lines 
are thickly supplied with sidings, switches, suburban stations, spurs, etc., until 
nearly every farm is in the very closest touch with transportation by rail direct 
from farm to market, for the cars loaded at all these minor points throughout the 
trucking belt, run directly through to all the markets named above without break- 
ing bulk and without delay, running on fast freight schedule. 

Several electric lines are already built and others are projected, by means of 
which the section around Norfolk is to be intersected by at least a dozen electric 
lines, reaching out in all directions to all points of the compass. 

This work has already been commenced, and already " 'taters are toted to 
town " by electricity. So we see that the fortunate tiller of the soil here has seve- 
ral methods of getting his farm produce from the farm to the consumer. He can 
haul it by his own farm team over the finest roads in the country ; he can float it by 
canal, by steamer, by sailing vessel, by rail, or by electricity. No other portion of 
the United States can make such a showing. 

With such advantages as these, who can predict the future for such a highly 
favored section, the whole of which is to be devoted to what is termed " Intensive 
Farming"? The small farm, well tilled, is to be found here in the near future in the 
highest degree. Improved methods ; more thorough culture ; diversified farming ; 
more stock on the farm ; rotation of crops ; more attention paid to growing the 
crops, or raising the stock now purchased so largely of the North and West, is 
destined to make of the section around Norfolk really and truly " the garden spot" 
of America, if not of the whole world. 



PORT AND CITY. 53 

NORFOLK AS A RAILROAD AND SHIPPING CENTER. 

THE RAILWAY LINES. 

^T^HE map of Norfolk and its surrounding territory on page 2 shows 
^^ the transportation facilities of this port at a glance. 

The trunk line railroads focussing here, and making this port their 
principal maritime terminals, are the following. 

1 st. Norfolk & Western. 

2nd. Seaboard Air Line. 

3rd. Southern Railway. 

4th. Chesapeake & Ohio. 

5th. New York, Philadelphia & Norfolk Railroad ( or Cape 
Charles Route). 

6th. Norfolk & Southern. 

7th. Norfolk & Carolina. (Atlantic Coast Line.) 

8th. Atlantic & Danville. 

These eight lines comprise 10,000 miles or more of railway and 
cover about all the roads in the South Atlantic States. 

The number of passenger trains running into and out of this port 
daily is not less than sixty, and of freight trains eighty-five. 

A dozen or more steamboats arrive and depart daily, and from 
these trains and steamers fully 3,000 passengers embark and 
disembark. 

Over 1,400 cars of freight are discharged at depots here every 
twenty-four hours. There are regularly employed in the service of 
railroads here about 4,000 persons. 

The operating offices of these railroad lines located in Norfolk, 
are the Norfolk & Western, Southern Railway, N. Y. P. & N., Nor- 
folk & Southern, Norfolk & Carolina, Atlantic & Danville, and C. & 
O. — offices of Seaboard Air Line are located in Portsmouth. 

In addition to the eight lines above noted, the two short lines, to 
the bay and the ocean from Norfolk, add very largely to the business 
as well as the pleasure and recreation of the people. These are: 

1st. The Norfolk, Virginia Beach & Southern, to the ocean, 
eighteen miles, and its present owners, the Vanderbilt syndicate, will 
make it a standard gauge road and build a branch north of it to Lynn- 
haven bay, and south to the famous hunting and ducking sounds of 
North Carolina. 

2nd. The Norfolk & Ocean View line, eight miles away to 
Chesapeake Bay, is now run by electricity, with hourly, and even half 
hourly, trains in the summer months, transport many thousands daily, 
and with good bathing, good fishing and good hotels, there is sport and 
recreation for the million. 

Both of these local lines bring to Norfolk large quantities of fish, 
oysters, eggs, lambs, poultry, and other country produce of the 
choicest quality. 

g^lPIf Commerce is indeed a King, then the harbor of Norfolk 
has jnstly been called a King's Chamber. 



54 NORFOLK, VA. 

THE NORFOLK &. WESTERN RAILROAD. 

♦fTS, in respect of its bearing upon the past progress of Norfolk, the 
most important of all the transportation lines of the city. The 
road has opened up to Norfolk a new world almost in Southside Vir- 
ginia, upper North Carolina, southwest Virginia, in the valley of 
Virginia, West Virginia and northwest North Carolina, where tnere have 
been extraordinary coal and mineral developments made through its 
agency, and has offered the Western States another field of coal sup- 
ply, and another highway to the sea. 

The road has practically done more than to establish Norfolk as a 
port, for of scarcely less moment to the city than the Norfolk & West- 
ern transportation advantages have been, the very extensive wharf and 
suburban land additions and other betterments prosecuted as auxiliary 
investments by those interested in the road. 

The Norfolk & Western main lines extend from Norfolk to Bristol, 
Tenn., throughout the whole length of the southern half of Virginia, 
from east to west; north to south; from Lynchburg, Va., to Durham, 
N. C, and from Roanoke, Va., to Winston-Salem, N. C, and 
through West Virginia to Columbus, O. ; and to Norton, Va., through 
the Clinch valley, where it connects with the Louisville & Nashville 
system, and again to Hagerstown, Md. An entrance to Washington, 
D. C, is also under consideration. 

The Norfolk & Western, with its leased lines, has an aggregate 
mileage of over 1,500 miles. It runs fast trains with modern equip- 
ment. Its time to Bristol from here (408 miles) is fourteen hours for 
passenger trains; freights, twenty-eight hours. It is improving, and 
extending, and enlarging, indeed, every day and every way, 

It has influenced investment of over $100,000,000 in establishing 
iron furnaces, zinc and lead works, and many other manufacturing 
industries of various kinds. In many respects the road has been Nor- 
folk's mainstay, though it has always been forward and broad in its 
policy everywhere along its line. It encourages immigration and the 
establishment of industrial enterprises, and the Traffic Department of 
the road at Roanoke, Va., is authorized to extend inducements and 
furnish information to any and all interested inquirers. 

The Norfolk & Western maintains financial headquarters at Phila- 
delphia, and operating departments at Roanoke. Its shops are at 
Roanoke, and it has made that place one of the most promising cities 
of the South. Norfolk is its maritime terminal, and here it has estab- 
lished wharves, warehouses, and coal piers at Lambert's Point, which 
have made the city the greatest coaling station of the United States. 

Joseph H. Sands, Vice-President and General Manager, and W. 
C. Bullitt, Vice-President and Traffic Manager, stationed at Roanoke, 
are its operating heads. Its General Passenger Agent is W. B. Bevill, 
Roanoke; the General Freight Agent, T. S. Davant, also at Roanoke. 

The General Agent here is N. M. Osborne, an old railroad man, 
long identified with it, who is Vice President of the Chamber of Com- 
merce, and as a resident here for the past twelve years, a man of note 
in the community. His office is at the depot, foot of Main street, an 
engraving of which is in this work. The road has a ticket office at 
126 Main street. 



PORT AND CITY. 55 

THE SEABOARD AIR-LINE. 

H TRUNK line, extending from Norfolk, through Weldon, Hen- 
derson and Raleigh, N. C. ; Chester and Abbeville, S. C, and 
Athens, Ga., to Atlanta; that is, to say, bisecting, diagonally almost, 
the Carolinas and Georgia, enters this trade center from the Ports- 
mouth side. 

The length of this system is 925 miles. The system has a num- 
ber of minor branches leading to the most thriving places adjacent to 
its route, and has three important ones — one to Wilmington, N. C, 
another to Rutherfordton, in the North Carolina mountains, through 
Charlotte, N. C, and one to Columbia, S. C. 

It connects en route with the Atlantic Coast Line (through Florida 
system), and all the principal South Atlantic roads, in fact. 

The principal cities on this line are all growing trade centers, fur- 
nishing Norfolk with business. 

Its importance to the city is, however, greatest in respect to the 
cotton, lumber and timber it hauls. It runs through the Georgia and 
Carolina cotton belts and pineries. 

It runs five through freight trains daily and two through passen- 
ger trains. The former make the trip to Atlanta in thirty-six hours, 
and the latter in seventeen. 

It has made of late considerable improvement at Portsmouth by 
building and enlarging docks and yards, and it has projected a new 
passenger station there. 

The Pullman Palace Car Company has lately delivered twenty- 
five new vestibule cars to this road, to equip five trains on its fast line 
from the Virginia cities and the North to Atlanta. 

Freight cars of this line are carried over to the Norfolk side of 
the river by barge. Passengers come over on the ferry. 

THE NORFOLK &, SOUTHERN RAILROAD. 

®NE hundred and thirteen miles long, beginning at Norfolk, pene- 
trates, with its auxiliary steamboat lines, the region of the sounds 
and estuaries of North Carolina to the extent of 549 miles of water and 
rail route. This Sounds country is one of the richest parts of the 
land. It is a fishing district, a lumber district, a cotton, truck, rice and 
fruit country, a sportsman's and tourist's resort — in the latter particular 
beginning to be another Florida, indeed. 

The Norfolk & Southern was the first road into this attractive sec- 
tion, and is still in many parts (lumber feeders not taken into account) 
the only one. It runs from this city to Bellhaven, on Pungo river, (an 
arm of Pamlico sound), Beaufort County, N. C, there connecting with 
its own steamers for Washington, N. C, and all points on the Pamlico 
river, and also makes similar connections at Elizabeth City for New 
Berne, the only rival to Wilmington on the North Carolina coast. 

The principal stations on the line besides these terminals are Moy- 
ock, Hertford, Roper and Pantego. 

These are thriving places, all situated on navigable water, either 
on the sounds or the rivers flowing into them; all in the timber coun- 
try, yet surrounded with trucking and other plantations of the finest 



56 NORFOLK, VA. 

sort, and deriving their prosperity also from the profitable fisheries 
prosecuted all along these shores. Lumber, cotton, grain, fish and 
truck, therefore, are the principal commodities this line hauls. 

It traverses a section which, through its facilities, is practically 
dominated by Norfolk, and carries into that section from Norfolk the 
bulk of what is consumed there. 

THE SOUTHERN RAILWAY. 

Norfolk's Latest and Most Lmportant Acquisition — A Great Factor in the 
South' s Development — A Vast and Prosperous Raihvay System. 

♦fFT is difficult to realize the importance to this port of the Southern 
|| Railway's entrance into Norfolk. This mammoth organization 
binding the Southern States from the Potomac to the Gulf, and from 
the Mississippi to the Atlantic, with a band of steel nearly 5,000 miles 
long, brings by far the greatest addition to its commerce that Norfolk 
has ever received. 

Northern railway managers realized long ago that consolidation 
of short railroad lines into one great system was the best way to make 
them successful. The Southern corporation has followed that plan 
and this great line was formed of some thirty Southern railroads, now 
practically under one management. The Southern now compares 
favorably with any railway line in America in its track, its equipment 
and its service. 

There are few cities of importance in the South that the Southern 
Railway does not reach with its own line, and it has direct connection 
to all points North and South. The Southern is to the South what the 
Pacific roads are to the West, and the Trunk lines to the North. 

It was a great day for Norfolk when the Southern Railway de- 
cided to make this city one of its Atlantic termini. The company has 
purchased large tracts of land on the water front, giving it the best of 
shipping facilities by water, and is investing large sums of money in 
building docks and warehouses. This bustling port of industry will 
soon feel the effects of the commerce and traffic the Southern will 
pour into Norfolk. If we receive a fair portion of the business this 
great line does in the eight magnificent States which it traverses, Nor- 
folk's commercial greatness will double within a year or two. The 
Southern places our merchants engaged in the wholesale and jobbing- 
trade, as well as our manufacturers and shippers, in direct touch with 
the immense and marvelous territory reached by the Soathern Railway, 
which it is building up and rapidly developing by its liberal and prac- 
tical methods. 

The unlimited mineral deposits, agricultural products, and timber 
resources along the Southern Railway are daily attracting the attention 
and exciting the admiration of thousands of Northern and Western 
investors and manufacturers, and there is a constant stream of these 
people pouring into the South over the Southern Railway as a result of 
the untiring efforts of its Passenger and Land & Industrial Depart- 
ments. 

Now that the Southern reaches this port, what benefits and builds 
up its territory will benefit and build up Norfolk. The Southern Rail- 



PORT AND CITY. 57 

way lines traverse the famous Piedmont section, the fertile Tennessee 
and Virginia Valleys, crosses the renowned Yazoo Delta, pierces the 
iron mountains and the coal regions of the South, reaches the best 
agricultural and horticultural districts and is the great highway for 
manufactured products. 

That the South is experiencing a new era of industrial develop- 
ment is evidenced by the tremendous southward movement all over the 
United States. The principal cause of this movement is the fact made 
known by the Land and Industrial Department of the Southern Rail- 
way that in the States reached by this line there are 90,000,000 acres 
of unimproved lands, the greater portion of which have rich and pro- 
ductive soil and adapted to all branches of agriculture. These lands 
can be had at prices ranging upwards from $1.50 per acre, and consid- 
ering the location, the climatic conditions and the varied resources, are 
decidedly cheaper than Western lands. The Southern follows a liberal 
and broad guage policy. It fosters industries, encourages all sorts of 
profitable developments. Its traffic department is ever ready to assist 
and encourage any worthy enterprise. For much of the work which 
it is doing, it must look to the future for compensation, but its reward 
will come when the wonderful resources of its great territory are 
developed. 

We strongly advise manufacturers, farmers, miners and business 
men to locate along the Southern Railway, the giant railroad of the 
South and derive benefit from its able management and the activity 
with which it recruits immigration and brings capital from the North. 

The Southern Railway has offices in the leading cities of the 
North, a partial list of which is given below, where information con- 
cerning Norfolk and the other cities and districts through which the 
Southern runs can be obtained at these offices, interesting printed 
matter and maps are distributed, and our Northern friends are advised 
to apply for same in person or by letter. 

Southern Railway offices : New York: R. D. Carpenter, General Agent, 271 
Broadway. Boston: Waldo A. Pearce, New England Agent, 228 Washington 
St., and A. L. Langellier, Agent for Land & Industrial Department, 228 Washing- 
ton St. Philadelphia, Pa: F. D. Price, 32 South Third St. Baltimore, Md.: Geo. 
R. Needham, 106 East German St. Chicago, 111.: J. C. Beam, Jr., 113 Adams St., 
and A. P. R. Dahl, 304 Marquette Building. Louisville, Ky.: E. Fitzgerald, A. G. 
F. A. Richmond, Va.: J. H. Drake, A. G. F. A. M. V. Richards, Land & In- 
dustrial Agent, Washington, D. C. W. H. Green, Superintendent; J. M. Culp, 
Traffic Manager; W. A. Turk, General Passenger Agent; H. F. Smith, General 
Freight Agent, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, D. C. 

Mr. E. T. Lamb, General Agent, Norfolk, Va. 

The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway lines spread out like the 
fingers of a hand to five terminals — Lexington, Ky., Cincinnati, Wash- 
ington, Newport News and Norfolk. Its Cincinnati division follows 
the south bank of the Ohio river, the Lexington division travels the 
blue grass district of Kentucky. 

The main line continues eastward from the junction at Ashland, 
Ky., through Virginia, dividing at Clifton Forge, from which the main 
line extends to Richmond by the way of Staunton, Charlottesville and 
Gordonsville, Va., while the James River division proceeds to the same 
destination by the way of Natural Bridge and Lynchburg, The Wash- 



58 NORFOLK, VA. 

ington division from Gordonsville, Va., to Washington, D. C, and the 
Peninsula division to Newport News, Old Point Comfort and Norfolk. 
There are branches to Warm Springs and Lexington, Va., and other 
places. 

The Chesapeake & Ohio runs a line of ocean steamers and has an 
enormous traffic in coal, coke and iron ores, grain, cotton, flour, to- 
bacco and other staples. 

Within the past three years the Chesapeake & Ohio has secured 
valuable property in Norfolk, and its terminal improvements here when 
completed will exceed a million or more of dollars. The road now 
has a large traffic in and out at this port. 

The New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk R. R., other- 
wise known as the "Cape Charles Route" because it is, in part, a 
water line over Chesapeake Bay from Cape Charles to Norfolk. It is 
the shortest and quickest passenger and freight route between Phila- 
delphia, New York and the North and Norfolk, Old Point and the South. 

From its beginning at Norfolk, including the thirty-six miles of 
bay, it is 148 miles long. It ends at Delmar on the border of Mary- 
land and Delaware, a place. whose name is a compound of the first 
syllables of the names of the two States. There it connects with the 
great Pennsylvania system, and thus forms an air line approximately 
to New York city of 345 miles, over which the passenger run is made 
in twelve hours. To Philadelphia its time is eight and one-half hours. 

For its through Florida, Old Point, Virginia Beach and other sea- 
side resort passenger service, a large share of which it also enjoys, it 
runs the latest Pullman vestibule cars and other luxuries of the rail. 

The transfer from Cape Charles, a water change affording relief 
from the monotony of all-rail travel, is made by eight boats, two for 
passengers and six which tow freight car floats over. Two passenger 
boats leave here for Cape Charles daily, one morning and one evening. 
R. B. Cooke is General Agent in this city. 

The Atlantic and Danvile Railway is 281 miles long over 
all (206 from the port of Norfolk to Danville), and, as its name im- 
plies, is a trunk line from the seaboard at this city to Danville, in south- 
ern Virginia, not far from the North Carolina line. 

It has three short branches — one from Belfield, Va., toClaremont, 
on James River, fifty-one miles, another from Buffalo Junction to 
Buffalo Lithia Springs, in Mecklenburg county, a distance of four 
miles, and the Hitchcock branch, from Belfield into the adjoining tim- 
ber land, a distance of eight miles. 

Its terminals are Norfolk, West Norfolk, Claremont and Danville. 
The principal places on the line besides these, are Milton, Clarksville, 
Boydton, Lawrenceville, Belfield, Franklin, Courtland and Suffolk. 

Four regular freight and two regular passenger trains traverse the 
line from Norfolk to Danville daily, and the same number east. Pas- 
senger time, Norfolk to Danville, by this line is eight hours ; freight 
fifteen. Lumber and other forest products form 55 per cent, of the 
freight traffic. Considerable cotton, tobacco and other agricultural 
products are transported by it. C. D. Owens is Vice-President and 
General Manager. 



PORT AND CITY. 59 

The Norfolk & Carolina Railroad is a branch and one of 
the twelve roads comprising the Atlantic Coast Line of the South, 
which forms, by a junction with the great Pennsylvania system of the 
North — and by connections made here through this branch of it — the 
through route from New York to Florida. 

The system to which it belongs — that of the Atlantic Coast Line — 
has a mileage in exact figures of 1,126. 

Its own mileage is 100. 

It begins opposite this city, at Pinner's Point, on the southern side 
of the Elizabeth, facing Norfolk's Atlantic City Ward, and forms a 
junction with the main stem at Rocky Mount, in the eastern part of 
North Carolina. Its passengers are brought into Norfolk by ferry over 
the Elizabeth River. 

This road was begun in the latter part of the '8o's. It was com- 
pleted to Norfolk in 1890. 

Four passenger and six freight trains, usually, are run out of here 
over it daily. The passenger trains are operated on fast schedule with 
Pullman's (running through to Florida), and all the latest conveniences 
have been introduced. 

Its freight traffic is largest in the items of lumber, cotton and early 
fruits and vegetables. Proceeding from this city it traverses a trucking 
district and then crosses the pine and cotton belts of eastern North Caro- 
lina. Norfolk, as the principal trade center of the line, had the largest 
proportionate advantage from the business thus derived. 

The general offices of this system are at Norfolk. G. M. Serpell, 
General Manager. 

NORFOLK AS A MARITIME PORT. / 

^^HERE are twenty-five or thirty ports scattered along the seaboard 
^^ of this country, and of all these only seven have what can be 
called a first-class harbor, i. e., unobstructed entrance for freighting 
vessels of the largest sea-going sort. 

Norfolk is one of these seven. 

This, nowadays, is an exceedingly important advantage. It means 
to the port possessed of this endowment, a handicap upon its rivals, 
because large vessels are becoming more and more the rule in the 
merchant marine. 

In the aggregate of its maritime interests, indeed, Norfolk, in 
point of fact, stands next to New Orleans among Southern ports. It 
ranks as the first lumber port of the South ; it is the greatest coaling- 
station and coal port ; it is fourth in the cotton trade, and it enjoys in 
the fullness and convenience of its hydrographic radii — its wonderful 
system of inland waterways and passages — a remarkable coastwise 
trade ; a traffic exceeding all the Southern ports also, only New Or- 
leans, with its great Father of Waters, barred. 

About 3,500 entries of vessels, coastwise and foreign, are recorded 
now annually for Norfolk ; 550 of these are engaged in the coasting 
trade; nearly 200 come for foreign cargoes; the rest for coal. 

The conveniences for trade of this character are excellent. The 
port is only twenty miles from the sea — unlike many other of the 



60 NORFOLK, VA. 

world's ports, which are far inland and difficult of access. It is thor- 
oughly protected, not subject either to tidal extremes or storms ; in a 
broad and deep estuary, the Elizabeth river, the way and entrance to 
which, through Hampton Roads, is open to craft of the largest draft 
and size. 

There is no bar at all at the entrance to Chesapsake Bay. 

Neither is there any between the open sea and the anchorage 
ground of Hampton Roads. 

Norfolk harbor is the only one on our South Atlantic coast 
which is entered from the northwest. It has the best protected harbor, 
therefore, between Boston and Galveston, in that it opens opposite the 
direction of the usual sou'wester sub-tropic cyclones. This fact was 
illustrated in recent destructive storms which swept the coast, disas- 
trously to shipping, from Florida to New York. 

An area of the harbor, 1,400 by 8,200 feet is available for deep 
anchorage, that is to say, about 800 acres extent; the area available for 
small craft is practically unlimited. 

There is no trouble with the channel ; so long as the navy yard is 
here, the government is committed to maintenance of way to it, and 
such additional depth as may be required. 

All the facilities for shipping are, in fact, first rate and modern, 
and the port charges are reasonable. 

The coaling facilities are certainly equal to anything in this coun- 
try, if not, indeed, in the world. 

There are warehouses and compresses, stevedores, chandlers and 
supply houses, charterers, brokers, underwriters, ship railways, dry 
docks and repairing concerns — wreckers, even, if you want them — 
and every requisite of sea-faring business and life. 

Pilotage is governed by State law, and is entrusted to the Virginia 
Pilot Association, whose headquarters are here, although, for conveni- 
ence, the boats rendezvous at Old Point. Charges range from $2.50 
per ton for ten feet draft to $4.50 above sixteen. Towage is 40 cents 
per ton, foreign; 20 cents coast-wise, coal capacity both ways. 

Of the pilot service this may be said: Perhaps no State in the 
Union has had for more than a hundred years a system of pilot service 
more efficient than that afforded by the body now known as the Vir- 
ginia Pilot Association. 



Norfolk, with its growing importance as a port, and its rail- 
road connections with the interior, not only of the South, but of the 
whole country, will, in the course of a few years make a diversion of 
trade from New York that will be a matter of serious concern to the 
business men of the last named city. 

Several distinct elements insure this importance. The splendid 
harbor is an essential one. The best authorities on maritime subjects 
easily concede Norfolk's harbor to be one of the most important ship- 
ping points on the Atlantic coast. In going further south by the sea, 
the danger and difficulty of rounding Cape Hatteras is encountered, 
and that is why so many of the steamship lines end at Norfolk, and the 
freight is sent South by rail or through the canals. 



PORT AND CITY. 61 

FOREIGN LINES ANDSTRADE. 

MITHIN the past few years the large increase in receipts of 
lumber, staves, naval stores, grain, tobacco and coal, has 
greatly augmented foreign shipping at this port. 

Formerly cotton was the chief and leading article, but mainly 
through the extended lines and growing business of the Norfolk & 
Western Railroad, and the enterprising management of that corpora- 
tion, foreign lines of steamers have been established, and freights in 
leading staples have been sufficient to load more than an hundred car- 
goes a year, carrying not less than 100,000 tons to ports of the United 
Kingdom and the Continent, and general as well as miscellaneous 
cargoes have grown more numerous every year. 

Of the foreign steam lines established here within the past ten 
years to meet that demand, the following may be noted as the principal 
factors in this carrying trade : 

BARBER & CO., STEAM SHIP Agents for regular lines from 
New York, Norfolk and Newport News to British and Continental ports, 
and in fact will furnish vessels to any of the world's leading ports. 

The Norfolk branch of this house was established ten years ago, 
and has been successful from the start, and must continue so under the 
business-like management of Mr. E. J. Rudgard Wigg, who represents 
the firm in Norfolk at their office, 51 Main street, where information 
may be obtained. 

THE UNITED STATES SHIPPING CO., from Norfolk and 
Newport News to all leading foreign ports, dispatch steamers every two 
weeks to Hamburg, Glasgow, Rotterdam, Dublin and Belfast. 
Through rates and bills of lading to all Baltic, Black Sea and Austra- 
lian ports. 

Since September last this company have dispatched a fleet of 45 
steamers to various European ports. The offices of the company in 
Norfolk are in the Columbia building, and from its representative here, 
Mr. D. J. Donovan, shippers may obtain information and rates regard- 
ing shipments to any port in the world. 

THE NORTH AMERICAN TRANSPORT CO., has for some 
years operated in this port and done a large business in its connections 
with some of the leading railway lines terminating here, and its ships 
have made as many as sixty or more trips a year. It has regular 
sailings to Liverpool, Hamburg, Rotterdam and Bremen. Mr. James 
Graham, Jr., represents the company in Norfolk, with offices in the 
Columbia building. 

There are several chartering agencies here also, furnishing the 
trade mainly with the class of steamers known as "tramps." 

Freight and passenger agencies are also here for the leading and 
regular North Atlantic lines to Europe. 

l^gF 5 Building material is so extensively manufactured that build- 
ing here is as cheap as anywhere in the land. It is cheaper than at 
Baltimore, Richmond, Washington or Atlanta. 

The building trade here supports handsomely about seven local 
architects and probably thirty building contractors of standing. 



62 



NORFOLK, VA. 



COASTWISE LINES AND TRADE RESOURCES. 

mORFOLK is most distinguished among American ports for her 
extensive coastwise shipping interests. No other Southern 
city except New Orleans with its great river business, at all approaches 
it in the magnitude and variety of its coastwise traffic and inland boat- 
ing trade. To uphold and swell this trade, cotton, lumber, coal and 
truck contribute most largely. There are a dozen or more river and 
bay lines, which are maintained by a series of inland waterways and 
passages available to them and to commerce generally, in respect of 
which this city is peculiarly and distinctively central. 

These inland waters are Chesapeake bay and its tributary streams on the one 
hand and the North Carolina sounds and their tributaries on the other, between 
which there is the connection of the Elizabeth river and its extensions, the Albe- 
marle and Chesapeake canal. 

The North Carolina Sounds are three in number. They are formed by the 
banks enclosing them on the ocean side are securely land-locked, and are shallow, 
but broad and peaceful avenues of trade. They begin about twenty miles south- 
east in an air-line from Norfolk. The way into them is through the eastern branch 
of the Elizabeth, and the canal, connecting them with this harbor. 




IN THE SOUNDS COUNTRY— ELIZABETH CITY, N. C. 

In their order they are Currituck, the most northerly, then Albemarle, then 
Pamlico, this last the largest. Large rivers navigable for many miles inland 
empty into them, the Pasquotank, Perquimans and Chowan into Albemarle Sound; 
the Pamlico and Neuse into Pamlico Sound. There are numerous rapidly growing 
cities upon these rivers, Elizabeth City, Edenton, Washington, New Berne, 
and Beaufort chief among them. 

The "banks" which enclose these sounds begin just below the Virginia line. 
Stormy Cape Hatteras is on these banks and Cape Lookout is at their southern 
extremity. Roanoke Island, on which the very first Anglo-Saxon attempt at set- 
tlement in America — twenty-three years before Jamestown — was made, is at the 
junction of Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds. The watering-place of Nag's Head is 
upon it. 

Chesapeake Bay extends about 180 miles north from its mouth, near Norfolk, 
and penetrates two States, Virginia and Maryland. Baltimore is at the head of it, 
on the Patapsco; Washington is on the Potomac, which flows into it. Other large 
rivers emptying into it are the Rappahannock, the York, the James, the Nansemond 
and Elizabeth. 



PORT AND CITY. 63 

West Point is on the York river, twenty-five miles inland and sixty miles from 
Norfolk. Richmond, on the James, one hundred and twenty miles up ; Petersburg, 
on the Appomattox, a branch of the James, eighty miles from the bay, and Suffolk, 
on the Nansemond twenty miles from it. 

This Tidewater country bordering on Chesapeake Bay is largely devoted to 
oystering, fisheries and truck. Water and soil both are prolific. It is a rich coun- 
try, and Norfolk has, through the steamboat lines, a large share of its trade, 

The Albemarle and Chesapeake Canals, situate south from Norfolk, are the 
last of a series of artificial highways connecting the bays, sounds and navigable 
streams along the Atlantic coast, so as to make one complete and almost wholly 
land-locked passage from New York to the Carolinas, and, in a larger sense, from 
the great lakes to the Florida coast. 

They make available to New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Norfolk, which 
lie directly on their line, over 1,800 miles of North Caralina river navigation. 

These highways, in their order, going south, are the great Erie canal of New 
York, the Delaware and Raritan, the Chesapeake and Delaware, the Albemarle 
and Chesapeake, and the New Berne and Beaufort, the last two the property of 
the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal Company of this city, an organization chart- 
ered and operating before the war. 

By means of these canals light draft steamers bound for Charleston, Savannah, 
Florida, and the West Indies, yachts and other small craft, can avoid the worst 
perils of old Ocean, especially those of storm-beaten Hatteras. 

Following are the dimensions of these canals : Delaware and Raritan, 43 miles 
long, locks 220x24x7; Chesapeake and Delaware, 14 miles, 220x24x9 ; Albemarle 
and Chesapeake, 14 miles, 220x40x8 ; New Berne and Beaufort, 3 miles, no locks. 

The Dismal Swamp Canal was one of the enterprises of our fathers, but from 
the consideration given to the project to improve it, seemingly has not yet outlived 
its usefulness. 

Washington and Patrick Henry were interested in it. 

It has served as a highway lor much of Norfolk's commerce for sixty years, and 
bids fair to be utilized as much longer. It is owned by a company of Baltimore 
and Norfolk capitalists, who, under the name of the Lake Drummond Canal and 
Water Company, have lately succeeded the former owners, the old Dismal 
Camp Canal Company. 

(It is proposed by the present holders to enlarge and improve it to 60 feet in 
width, 10 feet in depth, and locks 200 feet in length, and the canal is now closed to 
navigation, awaiting the proposed improvements.) 

The Old Dominion Steamship Company, organized in 1867 as successor to 
the old New York and Virginia Steamship Company, owns a fleet of eight large 
iron steamships representing a total burden of about 20,000 tons, plying between 
New York, Norfolk, Newport News and Richmond, Va., and a daily line is main- 
tained between New York and this port. These steamers are splendidly furnished 
and equipped for the accommodation and comfort of passengers ; large, well venti- 
lated state rooms, cabins and saloons furnishing every convenience for the enjoy- 
ment of travellers, excellent fare and skillful commanders. 

This line also maintains a fleet of modern built steamers for inland navigation, 
and daily trips, except Sunday, are made to all river landings on the Nansemond, 
and the York, Severn, Back, Poq'uosin, East and Ware rivers, taking in the towns 
of Smithfield, Suffolk, Newport News, Hampton, Old Point, in fact, reaching daily 
every town and village accessible from Hampton Roads and lower Chesapeake bay. 
They also have several vessels in the waters of North Carolina, which are operated 
through rail connections. 

The transportation service of this line is most satisfactory to this tidewater sec- 
tion of Virginia, and affords merchants, farmers and the people generally, quick, 
and well ordered trade facilities which they highly appreciate and could not now 



6 4 



NORFOLK, VA. 



dispense with. The Old Dominion company has been a success from the start; 
good management in all lines has earned for it an immense patronage which is 
made evident by the growth and prosperity of the line. The docks, warehouses 
and terminal facilities in this city cover a large water frontage in the center of the 
wholesale business quarter, and conveniences for close connection with water as 
well as rail lines are practically complete. 

The truck farmers highly appreciate the efforts of this line to handle their 
products, and nothing less than a daily line of their largest steamships could begin 
to accommodate the trade. M. B. Crowell, Esq., is the popular agent of the line 
in Norfolk, from whom all information as to freight and passenger rates can be 
obtained. The splendid ships of the Old Dominion line is represented in the cut 
of the Jamestown on page 51. 

The Merchants' and Miners' Transportation Company has for a third of a 
century borne such a part in the commerce of this port as entitles it to a foremost 
place in any account of the general transportation facilities of Norfolk. Its head- 
quarters are in Baltimore and its general offices are located in that city. 




STEAMSHIP "HOWARD" OF THE M. AND M. T. CO — 3,000 TONS. 



The full service of the company embraces three regular steamship lines, along 
with which it owns such wharf property, warehouses, etc., as are necessary to give 
it ample facilities for the extraordinary business it annually transacts. These three 
lines are the Boston, Norfolk, and Baltimore line, the Providence, Norfolk, 
Newport News and Baltimore line and the Baltimore and Savannah line. 
Two of these lines (the two first named) touch en route both north and south bound 
at Norfolk, the latter line, Baltimore and Savannah, touch at Norfolk only on south 
bound trips and gives this city a very satisfactory and complete service. 

The steamers of this company are of iron and steel, built after the most ap- 
proved models, provided with every safety appliance, commanded by experienced 
officers, all of them veterans of the company's service, and are commodious and 
luxuriously furnished. Every opportunity for pastime, and everything conducive 
to ease ami good living is provided. In a word, these are the " floating palaces " 
of the Chesapeake bay and North Atlantic waters, these "M. & M." line boats, as 
they are commonly called. 

Mr. R. H. Wright is the agent and representative of the line in this city. 



PORT AND CITY. 65 

The Baltimore Steam Packet Company, more familiarly known as the "Old 
Bav Line, has, for over half a century been a favorite avenue of travel between 
Norfolk and the Monumental City. The line is operated in connection with 
the Seaboard Air Line system. In olden days, when railroads were only in their 
infancy, the Old Bay Line afforded the best means of conveyance southward from 
Mason & Dixon's line to the chief highways of the South, and it still offers that 
large measure of comfort, elegance and security which was its characteristic then, 
and which from the nature of things, the railroads may not approach. 

The line maintains a daily service, Sunday excepted. 

Mr. W. Randall is the agent in Norfolk. 

The Baltimore, Chesapeake and Richmond Steamboat Co., a new Baltimore 
and Norfolk line has recently been inaugurated by the Southern Railway Com- 
pany, to facilitate its transportation business between this city, Baltimore and other 
points north of it. The principal object being to have ample facilities for its im- 
mense freight and passenger traffic, between the above named points without 
dependence upon service not wholly its own, nor under its control. This new line, 
therefore, gives additional service between Norfolk and Baltimore, as a daily line 
of boats (Sundays excepted) will be run between the two cities with the best ac- 
commodations that modern ships can furnish. E. T. Lamb, Agent. 

Other lines navigating the bay and water courses tributary to Norfolk, and 
which in the aggregate number some thirty regular and established lines, are noted 
on page 16. 

THE CITY'S GROWTH. 

'^'HERE is reason enough for the growth and expansion of the city's limits if you 
^ take only the narrower view of the city's jobbing field. Few cities enjoy a 
more rapidly developing territory than Norfolk has in eastern North Carolina and 
southwest Virginia. Three lines of its trade are largely based upon the products 
of the prolific district first named of these, i. e., fisheries, lumber and truck ; and 
the mineral development of southwest Virginia has made this city the Newcastle 
of the South. 

Every railroad system of the South Atlantic States — that is to say, operating 
east of the Appalachians in the South — makes Norfolk a seaboard terminal, either 
directly or through connections, and it is the greatest port between Baltimore on 
the one hand and New Orleans on the other. 

Its commerce has greater variety, volume and radius than either Charleston's 
or Savannah's. 

Moreover, it grows with a considerable degree of spontaneity from the devel- 
opment of such home interests as oystering, peanut culture, trucking, seaside re- 
sorts, naval construction at the Government yards here, and the local manufactures. 

It has more than doubled in population in the last twelve years, and has quad- 
rupled in manufactured product. This by the very conservative reckoning of the 
last United States census reports. 

The latest estimate of the population of the three cities of Norfolk, Ports- 
mouth and Berkley, its components and their immediate environs, is 80,000. The 
manufactured output at the rate of increase shown by the census between 1880 and 
1890, must be now about $7,500,000 in Norfolk alone, and the ship-yards and saw- 
mills and other of the largest concerns are on the Portsmouth and Berkley side. 

In fine it is solidifying as a port, as a Southern trade center, and as a manufac- 
turing place. 

Fully $300,000 has been spent for business structures of $10,000 or less in the 
past three years. 

Hence these real estate developments, building improvements and so'on. 



66 NORFOLK, VA. 

DEVELOPMENTAL PROJECTS. 

BRAMBLETON, formerly an overgrown suburb (much as Berkley is now), was 
annexed to Norfolk in 1887; Atlantic City was absorbed similarly in 1890- 
Tii is added 1,590 acres of area to old Norfolk, and by affording these two suburbs 
the advantage of city improvements and conveniences, relieved somewhat the con- 
gested conditions prevailing in the old city theretofore. 

But that was only a beginning. In the last few years eighteen or twenty land 
and development companies have been operating on both sides of the river here, 
and have prepared for occupation, by platting, subdividing, street-making, etc., 
2,024 additional acres, or, with Brambleton and Atlantic City added, 8,614, which is 
five and a half square miles. 

The most important suburbs thus added have been given the names of 
"Ghent," "Lambert's Point," "South Norfolk," " Park View," "Port Norfolk," 
and " West Norfolk." 

The most notable of all these developmental enterprises is that of the Norfolk 
Company, operating on the Norfolk side, in part within and in part without 
the city limits. "Ghent" is in the heart of its properties. This company owns 250 
acres. It has expended $500,000 in paving, laying sewers, water and gas mains, 
etc., and has built, for purchasers of ground from it, fifty or more large and fine 
residences, some of them at a cost of as much as $20,000. Its holdings lie partly in 
Atlantic City. Northern and European funds were got for this work by its 
projectors. 

" Lambert's Point" surrounds the coaling piers and new cotton mill. " Ghent " 
is the new swell residence district of Norfolk, and "Park View" that of Ports- 
mouth ; " South Norfolk " is the principal addition to Berkley; " West Norfolk " 
and "Port Norfolk" are settlements about the terminals, respectively, of the Atlan- 
tic and Danville, Norfolk and Carolina Roads and the Southern Railway to the 
northwest of Portsmouth. 

PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 

♦JKIOREOLK prides itself upon the architecture of several of its public and busi- 
'■* ness structures, new and old, some of which are really impressive. 

The City Hall has a very shapely dome, and the Federal Building, which 
contains the Post-office, Custom-House and United States Courts, is a solid con- 
struction with granite front. The Government has appropriated $150,000 for a new 
Post-Office, and an additional sum is expected. The Norfolk Academy was 
modelled by Walter, one of the architects of the National Capitol, "after the 
Temple of Theseus at Athens." The United States Naval Hospital is a massive 
building, also with classic front. It cost $000,000. 

The largest hotel in the city is the New Atlantic ; it has a block frontage ; it 
cost about $300,000. The most expensive church is the Epworth Methodi si- 
Episcopal, shown on page 29 ; it cost $100,000. The most conspicuous of the 
schools is the Norfolk College for Young Ladifs, which covers nearly a block, 
and the Norfolk Academy just referred to. 

For the New Market House and Armory, Norfolk has expended $100,000. 
Portsmouth also has a fine new Armory Hall. 

The most modern down-town structures in Norfolk are the Y. M. C. A. Hall, 
the Columbia and Haddington, office buildings of the very latest mode. 



'The population of Norfolk, taking in all the suburbs properly so called, 
may be set at so, 000. With the rapid extension of Norfolk and of these suburbs, 
especially Portsmouth, which is increasing in extent, population and importance as 
rapidly as Norfolk, the whole may be considered one center, especially in relation 
to the country at large. It may be added that by rail Norfolk is only twelve hours 
from New York. 



PORT AND CITY. 



67 



WHAT THE PRESS AND PEOPLE SAY. 



I think the mind needs training on 
the shores of the Mediterranean Sea to 
grasp the immensity of Norfolk har- 
bor. — London Times. 

Depth of water is the keynote to the 
value of Norfolk harbor, and this value 
is enhanced by the harbor's vast area. 
— New York Herald. 

The climate of Norfolk insures for 
the Northerner in the Southern winter 
an agreeable reception, and in the 
summer it is also a desirable resort — 
Neiv York World. 

Norfolk is a sanitarium as well as a 
pleasure resort. The union of the cli- 
mate with the water gives a distinction 
to the city. The Norfolk air is an 
enemy to malarial diseases. — Boston 
Globe. 

The Norfolk people are indeed such 
a race as we would expect to find in 
the land of the Southern sun. Their 
manners and their attainments attest 
their refinement.— Springfield Repub- 
lican. 

As regards safety and facility of ac- 
cess, Norfolk harbor has no superior 
among the Northern ports ; while 
those farther southward do not in any 
degree compare with it in either of the 
above advantages.— Lieut. H. H. Bar- 
roll, U. S. N. 

There is no reason why Norfolk 
should not speedily become one of the 
largest, richest and most important 
cities of the United States, and, in fact, 
to observe its growth during the past 
few years the city is under full head- 
way towards the realization of that 
possibility.— New York Post. 

The Norfolk County, Va., farmer is 
better supplied with transportation 
facilities than the farmer of any other 
county in the United States.— New 
England Farmer. 

There is not a city in America that 
can boast of more delightful surround- 
ings than Norfolk. The points of in- 
terest and beauty around the city have 
established its fame as a summer and 



winter resort. The breezes from the 
open sea provide a refreshing coolness 
from the summer heat, and the tem- 
perate mildness of Virginia offers a 
retreat from the freezing conditions 
of a Northern climate. — Cambridge 
{Mass.) Tribune. 

Norfolk's situation is such it insures 
its rapid growth. The city has one of 
the richest sections of the United 
States to draw upon and support its 
commerce. — A'ctc York Journal of 
Finance. 

In the West and not in the Orient is 
the future home of the Anglo-Saxon. 
To the Englishman, on his first visit to 
America, is this vividly impressed, es- 
pecially in Norfolk, Va., where he 
finds himself in an essentially English 
city, with the same laws and customs 
he left behind him.— Wandering 
Briton. 

The Hamburg-American Steamship 
Company are to put on steamers be- 
tween Norfolk and Hamburg at an 
early date. This is an evidence of new 
energy on the part of the South and a 
determination to be no longer depend- 
ant on Northern ports for the carrying 
of foreign exports and imports. Bal- 
timore sends its congratulations, even 
while it regrets the fact that it will 
share only indirectly in the benefits 
that will be derived from the new line. 
—Baltimore American. 

There is no part of the south Atlan- 
tic or Gulf Coasts that have a brighter 
future than Norfolk. Norfolk has an 
advantage in location which is con- 
stantly asserting itself in the upbuild- 
ing of the city. — Atlanta Constitution. 

Lord Bacon said there be three 
things that make a nation great and 
prosperous — fertile lands, busy work- 
shops and easy means of transporta- 
tion. This applies to the country 
tributary to Norfolk. Norfolk is des- 
tined to be not only great in commerce 
but in manufactures.— Senator Walsh 
in Augusta Chronicle. 



68 



NORFOLK, VA. 



If Atlanta had the natural advan- 
tages enjoyed by Norfolk, it would be 
a city of a million inhabitants within 
ten years. Norfolk has as bright a 
future as any city on the continent. — 
Clark Hoivell in Atlanta Constitution. 

I do not believe that by any combi- 
nation of circumstances or conditions 
certain development of Norfolk could 
be defeated. — J. C. Hemphill, in 
Charleston News and Courier. 

The push, the energy, the life that is 
exhibited in Norfolk is stimulating to 
the visitor, and is indicative of the pro- 
gressive spirit prevailing. — J. H. 
Stockton in Jacksonville Times-Union. 

It does not take a stranger long to 
note the achievements of Norfolk per- 
fected and projected. A strong confi- 
dence in Norfolk's future is begotten 
by a trip through its avenues of land 
and water. — J. S. Van Winkle in Knox- 
ville Trib titie. 

It will cease to be necessary for 
American manufacturers to put foreign 
names on their fabrics in order to sell 
them when Norfolk, Va., gets its man- 
ufacturing clothes on. Experts state 
that the temperature of that city is 
such it is possible to compete with the 
mills of Europe on high grade goods. 
— New Haven Palladium. 

There is no part of the South Atlan- 
tic or the Gulf coast that has a brighter 
future than Norfolk. Being centrally 
located between the great metropoli- 
tan centers of the East and the rich 
fields of the agricultural, commercial 
and industrial resources of the South, 
Norfolk has an advantage in position 
which is constantly asserting itself in 
the upbuilding of the city. Located as 
it is, on one of the finest harbors of the 
Atlantic coast — waters that can float 
within easy reach of the city the com- 
bined navies of the world and accom- 
modate the shipping of a continent, 
and having in addition to this superb 
natural blessing, nine railways as com- 
mercial arteries to every part of the 
United States, Norfolk enjoys advan- 
tages excelled by but few cities of the 
country, and if, in the renewed enthu- 
siasm of its people, it does not rapidly 



assume metropolitan dimensions, it 
will not be because nature and circum- 
stances have not done their part. — At- 
lanta Constitution. 

The Washington Post says: "The 
growing importance of the port of 
Norfolk, particularly in the matter of 
the tremendous grain trade developed 
during the past few months, is causing 
railroads throughout the southeast to 
turn to Norfolk as the distributing 
point for southeastern exports. Close 
upon the heels of the big deal the 
Pennsylvania road is endeavoring to 
consummate, in order to secure ter- 
minal facilities there, comes the report 
that the Louisville and Nashville rail- 
way desire to utilize the port as its 
Eastern terminal. It is asserted on 
good authority that the road has en- 
tered into negotiations for a $30,000 
option on the water front property on 
the western side of the Elizabeth, 
directly opposite Norfolk. This, to- 
gether with the existing lines and the 
vast Southern system, gives Norfolk 
direct communication with every part 
of the country, and will enormously 
augment exports from the port." 

An intelligent man cannot fail to see 
that God made Cape Henry and Cape 
Charles the gate posts and Hampton 
Roads the gateway into this continent. 
That he deflected the Gulf Stream 100 
miles to the west to pilot the ships of 
the nations into our ever open and 
never ice-locked harbor. That He has 
opened and laid down His great hand 
of omnipotence here, so that even the 
simple can see the great thumb in the 
Chesapeake Bay, the Potomac the in- 
dex finger, the York the middle finger, 
the James the fourth and the Eliza- 
beth fifth, all converging at Norfolk in 
the hollow of his hand. These natural 
things speak the language of Provi- 
dence saying: " Hera build the future 
great city of America, I will bathe and 
purify it with my tides, I will smile on 
her with my genial suns, I will fan her 
with my soft breezes, I will feed her 
from my fertile fields, I will enrich her 
with the wealth of my waters. — Rev. 
Dr. Blackwell. 



PORT AND CITY. 69 

NORFOLK'S VIS-A-VIS. 

k ORTSMOUTH, facing Norfolk, across Elizabeth River, can boast also of a con- 
siderable antiquity. It was founded in 1752, and Trinity, its old parish church, 
dates from 17(52. 

Bound always to Norfolk in the closest wedlock of trade, although jealously 
holding to single estate in the matter of its government, it has shared in the greater 
city's vicissitudes o>f the wars and commercial depression, and so has a history, 
eventful and sentimental, in common ; and it is a sharer now, likewise, in Norfolk's 
conditions of progress — not certainly advancing by leaps and bounds, like Norfolk, 
but relatively with that, growing fast. 

Corporate Portsmouth lies directly over against Norfolk on the river's western 
side. It covers compactly an area of about a mile square. Encircling this are 
suburbs, eight or more in number, which give the city, perhaps, half a mile of 
additional giath. 

The Naval hospital grounds, fronting the river, mark the northern limits of 
Portsmouth ; but beyond that again there are prospective extensions in Port Nor- 
folk and West Norfolk. 

Berkley shares in the uncommon prosperity of Norfolk and Portsmouth. 

Its population is now very likely, South Norfolk and other additions in- 
cluded, about 10,000. It has a town government. 

Berkley is the seat of the great lumber manufactures that distinguish Norfolk. 
It lies between the eastern and southern branches of the river, and has an excep- 
tional length of water front, with a good depth of water, and inlets affording basins 
for vessels all along. Besides its lumber mills, it has two new cotton goods facto- 
ries, and several marine railways and ship-yards, for which last its river bank 
offers especial favor. 

It is estimated that these industries employ nearly 2,000 persons, and pay out 
in wages about $750, 000 annually. 

THE NAVAL ESTABLISHMENTS. 

'ff'HE Navy-Yard and Naval Hospital and other establishments of the General 
^» Government here impart vitality to business and give special distinction to 
Portsmouth. The average number of civilians employed by them is over fifteen 
hundred ; the annual pay roll is close to $1,000,000. In the last twenty years about 
$9,000,000 has been spent here for naval purposes. 

The vantage of the waters of the Chesapeake as rendezvous for the fleets and 
squadrons of the mother country was perceived and the repair yards were estab- 
lished at Gosport long before the War of Independence. This property was 
wrested from his Britannic Majesty, during the Revolution, by the patriots of Vir- 
ginia, and was confiscated by the Old Dominion and sold by it to the nation, in 
1800, for $12,000. 

The chronicles of this Norfolk yard disclose much of the history of the country 

Decatur, the Barrons, and some of the cleverest American naval commanders 
have been assigned to do shore duty here. The "Chesapeake," in which Lawrence 
distinguished himself, was built here, and several smaller craft during the desul- 
tory war with France. The man-of-war "Delaware," 1799; the "John Adams," 
1830; the sloop "Yorktown," 1839 ; the steamers " Lawrence" and " Perry," 1847 ; 
the steam frigate "Powhatan," 1850; the "Roanoke" and "Colorado," 1857, were 
also built here ; and the famous "Guerriere," lying here in 1821, was made a school 
for midshipmen. The most important work done at this yard in recent years, was 
the construction of the United States cruiser "Raleigh," and the battleship "Texas." 

In April, 1861, soon after the outbreak of the Civil War, the Federal command- 
ant fired the yard and its contents, and the war vessels in the stream, From the 
hull of the "Merrimac," which was saved, the Confederates, while in possession in 
18G1 and 18G2, constructed the " Virginia," famous still as the first iron-clad ram 
used in naval warfare and for her combat with the celebrated "Monitor," built by 
Ericsson for the Federal side. 



70 NORFOLK, VA. 

LAMBERT'S POINT DESCRIBED. 

flSWROSPECTIVELY, the most important of all Norfolk's suburbs, new and old, 
Ur is LAMBERT'S Point, because here are combined maritime and manufactur- 
ing facilities and developments, which have already accelerated immensely the 
city's growth and which promise to continue to do so still for a long time to come. 
Lambert's point is on the east or left bank of the Elizabeth coming in, about 
two miles nigher the river's mouth than the city. Here the Norfolk and Western 
Railroad established, a few years ago, a coaling station, now grown to be the first in 
importance on the South Atlantic coast, and with its auxiliaries of piers for general 
traffic, warehouses and projected grain elevator, etc., an extension of the facilities 
of the port of extraordinary advantage in the development of its commerce. 

The depth of water here is twenty-six feet, mean low tide; the largest mer- 
chant vessels can come up here to load. Some 2,000 of all classes do come to coal 
now, during the year, and about 2,000,000 tons are annually shipped from these 
piers, the product of the Pocahontas (Southwest Virginia and West Virginia) 
field. 

Beside the coal piers, which are 900 feet long, thirty acres were filled in by the 
road for warehouses. There are two of these, 705x110 feet (aprons not included), 
for general traffic ; and twenty acres more have been set apart for cotton storage, 
compressing, etc. 

Several land companies have enlisted with it to promote settlement at this 
place, and have succeeded in building up a very respectable town. They have im- 
proved an area to the north of about 000 acres, and between 200 and 300 residences 
and stores have been put up, all told, to house and supply the employes of the 
railroad and other concerns here. The place has many advantages for such a set- 
tlement. It drains to the river, is sightly and healthful and is accessible by means 
of an electric street railroad to it from the city. 

Aside from the piers and the railroad improvements and works, the most im- 
portant enterprise established at Lambert's Point is the Lamberts Point Knitting 
Mills. These mills were built and equipped at an expense of |100,000 by Norfolk 
capitalists about five years ago and are employing now about 200 hands. 

IN NORFOLK'S SURROUNDINGS 

'JT'HE following places in Norfolk's vicinity — most of them within fifty miles — are 
^» of interest, either as business points or as tourists' or sportsmen's or summer 
resorts, or, it may be, as most of them are, in fact, for all those characteristics : 

1. Newport News, on Hampton Roads. 

2. Old Point and Fort Monroe, warder of Chesapeake Bay. 

3. Hampton, also on the Roads. 

4. Cape Charles City, at the mouth of the bay. 

5. The Dismal Swamp, at the State line below Norfolk. 
0. Suffolk, Nansemond County. 

7. West Point, York River. 

8. Yorktown, at the mouth of the York. 

!). Williamsburg, the ancient capital of the Old Dominion, in James City 
county. 

10. James River points. 

Newport News, situated on Hampton Roads, at the mouth of James River, is 
a place of six or eight thousand people — a miniature metropolis, the creation of a 
decade. Its rate of growth has scarcely been equalled, and certainly not sur- 
passed, even in the booming iron regions of the South. Ten or twelve years ago 
its site was occupied by a straggling village, with an uncertain future. The 
awakening came to it when the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad Company, building 
sea-ward arrived. 



PORT AND CITY. 



7i 



To the improvements made and fostered by that company, the city owes its 
rise These improvements are in extent and importance, to say the least, remark- 
able They embrace Coal Piers, at which 1,000 vessels were loaded or bunkered 
with 1 000 000 tons total in 1893 ; wharves to the number of seven, extending out 
into water twenty-six feet, low tide ; a Grain Elevator, of 1,750,000 bushels capa- 
city ; a Ship Yard big enough to bid for naval construction; and both coastwise 
and foreign steamship lines. 

The Surrounding Country is devoted to trucking and general farming. 

All the Bay, Coastwise and River boats landing at Norfolk, except the 
Sounds lines, stop also here. 

An Electric Railway, ten miles long, connects Newport News with Hampton 
and Old Point. This road carries to market considerable of the produce raised 
roundabout, mainly the truck. 

Hampton, formerly the shire town of Elizabeth City county is fifteen miles from 
Norfolk on Hampton Creek, a navigable stream emptying into the Roads. 

It has a population of about 3,000, not counting the inmates of the National 
Soldier's Home, some 2,700, and with those on furlough, 4,000, or of the Hampton 
Agricultural and Normal Institute, a school for the education of the negro 
and Indian wards of the nation, some 800 perhaps, or the people of its suburbs 
fully 2,500 more. 




HAMPTON FROM THE RIVER. 

Hampton has fisheries, shops supplying the 6,000 inhabitants in and around it, 
building and loan associations and two banks, and is a summer resort. 

Truck farming is profitably and very generally pursued in the country adjacent. 
The Hampton waters are famous for oysters and crabs. 

Hampton is historically interesting. 

Its site was originally occupied by the Indian village of Kekoughtan, which 
was visited by Capt. John Smith. The town was incorporated in 1705. It was at- 
tacked by the British in the Revolutionary War, and again in 1812, and defended 
itself pluckily both times. 

It has an ancient sanctuary, St. John's parish church, built in 1656, ot English 
brick, and still fairly preserved. The epitaphs in the Hampton grave-yards are 
many of them quaintly spelled and phrased. 

Old Point Comfort is so called to distinguish it from another Point Comfort on 
the Bay known as the New. 

It was shelter for the fleet of Smith, Newport and Gosnold, bringing, in 1007, 
the first of the Jamestown colonists, and by these first comers was named. 

There are eight boats from and to Norfolk— a regular ferry, in fact— every day. 



72 NORFOLK, VA. 

Old Point is anchorage station for the United States Quarantine patrol, 
and for the Norfolk, Richmond and Chesapeake Bay Pilots. The pilot-boats, 
white-winged, trim and graceful, coming and going, guiding the world's marine 
into and out of these waters, charmingly enliven the long and flashing perspectives 
seaward. 

The Old Dominion Steamships stop at Old Point, the Cape Charles Route 
(N. Y., P. & N.), route, and the Bay, James River and Baltimore lines make it a 
lauding place. 

An Electric Railway connects it with Hampton, which is three miles distant 
and with Newport News nine miles away. 

Fort flonroe is on Old Point Comfort, at the southeastern extremity of a low, 
sandy peninsula, making out into Chesapeake Bay from Elizabeth City county, Va. 
It is ten miles distant by water from Norfolk. 

From its position the fort has an unobstructed outlook between the Virginia 
Capes (Charles and Henry) and command of the entrance to Chesapeake Bay from 
the sea. 

A matchless water view, worth a long journey to see — not to mention the war's 
reminders at all— there is unfolded from the roof of the Hygeia or the light-house 
at the fort. On the one hand the bay with its outlook to sea ; on the other the 
Roads; the Rip-Raps here, Sewell's Point there; light-houses and light-ships; a 
merchant fleet forever standing in and another always standing out. Here, just 
beneath is the fort, eighty acres walled in, presenting seaward a granite wall thirty- 
five feet thick, moated and casemated, and enclosing a parade ground, upon which 
a whole brigade might be aligned. Yonder, dimly outlined against the sky is 
Ocean View— all there is connected with Norfolk visible. There, just off the land- 
ing of the Chesapeake and Ohio ferry, at Newport News, is the place where the 
Cumberland— briefly enough after the terrible onset of the iron-clad Merrimac— 
we>it down. 

The palatial "Hygeia" and "Chamberlain" are just outside the frowning 
walls of the Fort. 

The place is indeed one of the most popular of American seaside resorts. 

Cape Charles City, situated on the bay, near its mouth, and close to the head- 
land from which it takes its name, is northeast of Norfolk. It is in Northampton 
county, is a place of 3,000 population, 36 miles by bay and river from Norfolk, and 
is the terminal there of the New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Railroad or 
"Cape Charles Route," the air-line from Norfolk to New York. A ferry, run by the 
railroad company, makes the connection with Norfolk and transports the passen- 
gers and freight of the road between Norfolk and Cape Charles, over the interven- 
ing water. Cape Charles is on the eastern side of the bay, very near the extremity 
of the long "Eastern Shore" peninsula of Virginia. It is a fisher town and truck- 
ers' market. 

The Dismal Swamp begins about fifteen miles southwest of Norfolk and ex- 
tends over the line into North Carolina. It is about 40x20 miles in area and con- 
tains in its centre Lake Drummond, which is about 3>£x4^ miles in area and twelve 
or fourteen feet deep. 

The swamp has been famed as a great natural curiosity almost from the first set- 
tlement hereabouts. William Bvrd of Westover, described it about 1730, when he 
surveyed it. Tom Moore visited it in 1804, and made it the subject of his "Maid 
of the Dismal Swamp." William Wirt, who was one of the commissioners to 
run the boundary between Virginia and North Carolina, pictures it as a morass, 
whose soil is a deep black mire, and which is "the secure retreat of 10,000 beasts 
of prey." 

It is a great hunting ground yet, but not nearly so wild a jungle as Wirt made 
it out— truthfully enough, perhaps, for that time o' day. Two railroads now skirt it 
and one plunges through it "as through a grand shaded avenue." It is intersected 



PORT AND CITY. 73 

by the main line and branches also of two canals. The Seaboard and Roanoke 
Railroad passes through about five miles of it, the Norfolk and Western circles it 
coming in, the Suffolk and Carolina borders it and the Norfolk Southern proceeds 
straight through it. The Dismal Swamp Canal from Norfolk, and the Jericho from 
Suffolk run through it. 

The timber in it is chiefly the Northern cypress and juniper, or white cedar. 
Moss depends everywhere from the cypress. It is swamp only in the rainy season ; 
in summer, often, wells must be dug for water. The swamp, as a whole, lies high. 
Lake Drummond is in the heart of it, and is 22 feet above the level of Norfolk. Its 
waters are amber from the juniper sap. They have special keeping qualities, and 
many believe, also medicinal virtues. It is a singular thing that in this so-called 
swamp, malaria is unknown. 

The Dismal Swamp Canal, running through it, has lately changed hands, and 
is undergoing at present enlargement and improvement. 

SUFFOLK, WEST POINT AND YORKTOWN. 

Suffolk, the county seat of Nansemond, sixteen miles southeast of Ports- 
mouth, on the Seaboard and Roanoke Railroad, and twenty-three by the Norfolk 
and Western from Norfolk, is also accessible by steamboats traversing the Nanse- 
mond River to it. 

It has, in fact, special importance as a railroad crossing and a steamboat land- 
ing and lumber center. The Norfolk and Western, Norfolk and Carolina of the 
Atlantic Coast Line, Atlantic and Danville, and Seaboard Air Line railroads pass 
through it ; two narrow-guage roads (the Suffolk and Carolina and Suffolk Lumber 
Company's) run out from it, and a ten-foot channel in the stream permits a Norfolk 
iine of boats to come up to its wharves, which are sixteen miles only from Hamp- 
ton Roads. 

It has nine mills working timber ; basket works with 300 hands, a foundry, 
kindling wood works supplying New York and employing 350 hands, a peanut fac- 
tory of 100 hands, knitting mill with 200 hands, two iron works, two steam brick- 
yards, a canning factory and two lime-kilns. 

It is on high ground, fifty-four feet above sea level, and had, in 1890, 3,354 
inhabitants, an increase of 70 per cent, in the ten preceding years. It is an old 
town, with revolutionary traditions, but is one of the liveliest places in Tidewater 
Virginia. 

It has two academies for girls and a military school for boys. Its water supply 
comes from Lake Kilby, which also supplies Portsmouth. 

The country adjacent is devoted chiefly to lumbering and trucking. Suffolk 
also is a fish, oyster, clam and crab market. 

West Point, a minor Virginia port, situated on York River, an estuary of Ches 
apeake Bay, at the junction of the Mattaponi and Pamunkey rivers, in King William 
county, forty air-line miles from Norfolk, is also one of that city's tributaries, 
although it is associated with Richmond for customs purposes, and is deep-water 
landing place for the Virginia capital. 

Yorktown, at the mouth of York River, in York county, has no commercial 
importance, but it is of glorious memory as the field of the final triumph of the Rev- 
olutionary arms, October 19, 1781. Here Cornwallis yielded his sword, and 
with it all the pretensions of Royalty in the Thirteen Colonies ; and here, in 1881, 
the centennial of that momentous event was fittingly celebrated. A column 95 feet 
high, designed by the sculptor, J. Q.Ward, and suitably ornamented and inscribed, 
was raised by order of Congress in that year, representatives of the French people, 
"our ancient allies," participating in the ceremonies of dedication. 

Yorktown survives, but scarcely mure- than in memory. Its population is but 
321. 



74 NORFOLK, VA. 

At Yorktown the earthworks of the Revolution and of the Confederacy join. 
" Cornwallis's Cave " and the old " Nelson Mansion " — the home of one of the Rev- 
olutionary patriots, and ancestor of many prominent Virginians — are still to be seen 
there. From a business standpoint, it is decadent; but Gloucester Point, opposite, 
is a big truck-shipping point. 

Williamsburg, James City county, situated on a high ridge about equi-distant 
from the York and the James, and midway nearly (44 miles) by the Chesapeake and 
Ohio between Richmond and Norfolk, is notable now chiefly as the seat of two 
State institutions — the Eastern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia, and the venerable 
William and Mary College (page C5) founded in 1692, and of which Washington 
was Chancellor from 1788 until his death. These institutions give it a population 
of 2,000 souls. 

Williamsburg also has a famous and most interesting past. It is the oldest 
incorporated town in America. Many of its residences date from the beginning of 
American history. The churches have books and bells and silver services which 
were presented them by Royalty before the Revolution, and the towers of the one 
in which Pocahontas was baptized and married are still to be seen there. 

It was originally " Middle Plantation Old Fields," and was the Colonial Capital 
from 1698 to 1775. It was at Williamsburg, in the Old Hall of the Burgesses, that 
Patrick Henry drew his forceful parallel, beginning " Caesar had his Brutus," 
and retorted upon those who cried him down with "Treason!" ''Treason!" — 
boldly, heroically, gloriously — " If that be treason, make the most of it ! " and the 
first newspaper to print the Declaration of Independence is still published 
here, or until lately was. 

Old Jamestown. — Williamsburg is about an hour's ride from Yorktown by- 
pike, and about as far from another Virginia relic, the most archaic in fact of all, 
old Jamestown, which by the course of the James is 35 miles from Norfolk. Hardly 
a vestige of the settlement at Jamestown remains : of what was not only the first 
settlement by the English-speaking race on this continent, but really their first 
attempt at colonization — nothing now but a ruined church tower and some score or 
two of dilapidated headstones. The State, however, by the generosity of a wealthy 
resident near by — E. E. Barney, of Homewood Plantation — has lately undertaken 
its preservation, and the place is to be made, by the establishment of a hotel, in 
the nature of a Commonwealth's shrine. 

But the story of Jamestown is, or should be at least, to every American entirely 
familiar — a school-day remembrance, permanent and vivid. Here was the first 
American capital ; here was the base of Smith's explorations of the Chickahominy 
and Chesapeake, and his treaty-ground with Powhatan ; here Pocahontas was held 
for ransom ; here in the primilive days English maids of humble birth but "pure 
and incorrupt " were brought to be wives for the planters, and were disposed of for 
the price of their passage in currency or tobacco ; here the first cargo of negro 
slaves was landed from a Dutch vessel ; here there was Civil War three centuries 
ago — the abortive Rebellion of Bacon ; and here, there are still to be seen, in fair 
preservation, the breast-works raised by the soldiers of the Confederacy. 

&§° What makes a city grow ? 

Why, the growth of its back country, to be sure. 

And what back country has Norfolk ? 

Why, in one sense. It is a port, remember; no pent-up Utica, dependent en- 
tirely on this crop or that, or this section or the other ; but on drawing upon all 
parts — West and South — for its trade, and steadily widening its sphere and do- 
tminion in the land. 

For some time after the war here, and until lately, ships' cargoes (foreign) were 
all cotton ; nowadays, there are many charters for miscellaneous freights. What 
does that signify ? Why, extension, expansion, broadening, spreading out in a 
business way ; new lines of business ; new enterprises and interests ; new tributa- 
ries ; more provinces of trade. With thirty-five or forty millions worth of cotton, 
ten millions worth of lumber, six or eight of truck, and five or six of coal passing 
through it, Norfolk has got to be a pretty important port. 



PORT AND CITY. 75 

OUR BANKS AND MONETARY INSTITUTIONS. 

TTl-IERE are in Norfolk ten banking institutions ; of these two have a national 
^^ charter, seven are State banks, and one private bank. 

Four of these banks receive savings deposits, — the aggregate of which is 
about |1,000,000. 

Portsmouth has three State banks, with a total capital stock, $201,500. The 
capital stock of the nine banks in Norfolk is $1,420,200; surplus and undivided 
profits, $656,960; total, $2,077,160. 

For commercial purposes there is ample capital, and for developmental 
demands ; building associations, resident and non-resident capital readily supply 
and meets the demand. 

All told, the loaning capital here is about $5,000,000 and perhaps more. 

Our leading lines of trade, such as cotton, coal, truck, fish, oysters, etc., are 
mostly done upon a cash basis, and the demand, therefore, for bank accommoda- 
tion is greatly lessened. 

There are very large disbursements here on government account. Norfolk 
spends about $750,000 a year ; Portsmouth and Norfolk County about $250,000 ; the 
postal transactions involve $1,000,000; internal revenue collections, $25,000 ; Navy 
Yard pay roll and contracts, $1,500,000, and federal court business, custom house 
collections, and salary disbursements, pensions, Hampton Soldiers' Home and 
Naval Hospital warrants may be added also to this. 

These governmental disbursements aggregate some $4,000,000 a year. 

The banking institutions of Norfolk, their officers, directors, capital, etc., 
are as follows : 



THE CITIZENS BANK. 

(Organized 1867.) 

President Wm. H. Peters. Capital $300,000 

Vice-President... .J. W. Perry. Surplus 100,000 

Cashier Walter H. Doyle. Profits 65,000 

DIRECTORS. 

W. H. Peters. McD. L. Wrenn. R. H. Baker. 

j. VV. Perry. Geo. C. Reid. John N. Williams. 

VV. Charles Hardy. Geo. A. Schmelz. Walter H. Doyle. 

G. M. Serpell. Thos. R. Borland. 



MARINE BANK. 

(Organized 1872.) 

Capital Stock $110,000 

Surplus 100,000 

Undivided Profits 33,000 

President W. H. Taylor. 

DIRECTORS. 
Charles Reid. Washingtor Taylor. 

W. W. Gwathmey. M. L. T. Davis. 

B. P. Lovall. Thomas Tabb. 

Jas. T. Bori'm. Richard C. Taylor. 

Walter H. Taylor. 



7 6 



NORFOLK, VA. 



BANK OP COMMERCE. 

(Organized 1878.) 



President N. Beaman. Capital Stock 

Vice-President K. B. Elliott. Surplus 

Cashier Undivided Profits 

DIRECTORS. 

JamfsE. Barry. F. M. Whitehurst. 

B. T. Bockover. J. W. Hunter. 

K. B. Elliott. R. W. Santos. 

R. P. Voight. Fred. Greenwood. 

B. G. Pollard. N. Beaman. 



.$100,000 
. 60,000 
. 14,460 



THE NORFOLK NATIONAL BANK. 

(Organized August 1, 1885.) 
United States Depository. 



President J. G. Womble. 

Vice-President. C. W. Grand v. 

Cashier Caldwell Hardy. 

Assis't Cashier. .A. B. Schwarzkopf. 



Capital ...$400,000 

Surplus 160,000 

Profits 48,000 



C. W. Grandy. 
M. L. T. Davis. 

W. D. ROUNTREE. 

Wm. H. White. 
George Tait. 



DIRECTORS. 

Luther Sheldon. 
John N. Vaughan. 

D. LOWENBERG. 
J. G. WOMBLE. 
C. A. WOODARD. 



C. BlLLUPS. 

T. R. Ballentine. 
Wm. C. Dickson. 
Henry Walke. 
Caldwell Hardy. 



CITY NATIONAL BANK. 

(Organized 1892.) 



President A. E. Krise. 

Vice-President C. A. Nash. 

Cashier B. W. Leigh. 



Capital Stock $200,000 

Surplus 15,000 

Undivided Profits 3,000 



DIRECTORS. 



A. E. Krise. 
C. A. Nash. 
Jno. L. Roper. 
William Donovan. 
Floyd Hughes. 
C. W. Fentress. 
R. A. Dodson. 



W. T. SlMCOE. 

A. L. McClellan. 
W. H. H. Trice. 
Barton Myers. 

S. L. Foster. 
John Sheridan. 

B. W. Leigh. 



NORFOLK BANK FOR SAVINGS AND TRUSTS. 

(Organized 1893.) 

President C. W. Grandy. Capital $250,000 

Vice-President George Tait. Surplus 39,000 

Cashier Caldwell Hardy. Deposits 475,000 

DIRECTORS. 

J. G. Womble. Henry Kirn. Alfred P. Thom. 

M. L.T.Davis. Wm. H. White. C. A. Woodard. 

Jno. N. Vaughan. W. W. Vicar. D. Lowenberg. 

Caldwell Hard's . C. W. Grandy. George Tait. 

T. R. Ballentine. Geo. L. Arps. C. Billups. 

W. H. C. Ellis. G. M. Serpell. W. D. Rountree. 

Thomas Tabb. DeC. W. Thom. R. Page Waller. 



PORT AND CITY. 77 

MERCHANTS AND MECHANICS SAVINGS BANK. 

President W.B.Rogers. Canital « 10 *on 

Vice-President W. H.Wales, Jr. ^apitai $ io,«UO 

Cashier W.H.Wales. Surplus 19,500 

Assis't Cashier R. H. Gordan. Deposits 233,250 



THE SAVINGS BANK OF NORFOLK. 

President George W. Dey. Capital $ 30,000 

Cashier Geo. Chamberlaine. Deposits 175,000 



THE NORFOLK TRUST COMPANY. 

President W. B. Rogers. 

Vice-President A. S. Martin. Capital $20,000 

Treasurer L. P. Taylor. 



BURRUSS, SON & CO., BANKERS. 

Commercial and other business paper Interest allowed on time deposits, 

discounted. Safe Deposit Boxes for rent. Charges 

Loans negotiated on favorable terms. moderate. 

City Bonds and other Securities bought Draw Bills of Exchange and make 

and sold. cable transfers to Europe. 

Deposits received and accounts in- Letters of credit issued on principal 

vited. cities of the world. 



NORFOLK CLEARING HOUSE ASSOCIATION 

Is composed of the following banks, and was organized in March, 1871 : 
The Citizens Bank, Bank of Commerce, 

Marine Bank, Norfolk National Bank, 

Burruss, Son & Co., City National Bank. 

Bank of Portsmouth, 
Its records show a steady increase each year since its organization. Clear- 
ings in 1885, $33,228,851; and in 1895 they were $57,764,264. 



J. P. ANDRE MOTTU, j ETIENNE MULLER. 

CONSUL FOR BELGIUM, j 

J. P. Andre Mottu & Co., 
STOCKS *m BONDS. 

General Agents of the Norfolk and Ghent Companies 

The Owners of Norfolk's $3,000,000 
West-End Suburb. 



REPRESENTATIVES . OF . FOREIGN . CAPITAL. 



We solicit correspondence with Manufacturers wishing to move to 
the leading seaport on the Atlantic south of New York. 




FAST FREIGHT LINE. 



OLD DOniNION 

Steamship Company's Lines. 



BETWEEN 



NORFOLK and NEW YORK 

STEAMSHIPS. 
YORKTOWN. ROANOKE. 

JAMESTOWN. OLD DOMINION. 

GUYANDOTTE. RICHMOND. 

CITY OF COLUMBIA. 



SPLENDID PASSENGER ACCOMMODATIONS 

Leave Norfolk for New York daily. 

Leave New York for Norfolk daily, except Sunday. 



BETWEEN NORFOLK AND VIRGINIA POINTS. 
SMALL STEAMER SERVICE. - Daily escept Sunday. For Old Point, Hampton, Newport 
News, Smithfleld, Gloucester and Mathews Counties, Severn. Pocosin, Back and York River Land- 
ings, West Point and Yorktown— also Suffolk end Nansemond Kiver Landings. 
Freight received daily, except Sunday. 

?or full information as to passenger and freight rates, apply to 



W. L. GUILLAUDEU, M. B. CROWELL, 

Traffic Manager, Agent, 

New Pier. 26 N. R., New York. Norfolk, Va. 



NORFOLK & SOUTHERN RAILROAD 

THE DIRECT RAIL LINE TO ALL POINTS 

IN EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA ™* 

Double daily trains between NORFOLK. ELIZABETH CITY, HERTFORD, 
SNOVVDEN, EDENTON, MACKEY'S FERRY, ROPER, PANTEGO, BEL- 
HAVEN, Etc. Connects at Elizabeth City with the Sound Line Steamers for 
NEWBERNE, ROANOKE ISLAND, KINSTON, GOLDSBORO, MOREHEAD 
CITY, WILMINGTON, and all points on the Atlantic and North Carolina R. R., 
and Wilmington, New Berne and Norfolk R. R. Connects at Edenton with N. & S. 
R. R. Co.'s Steamers for Plymouth, Windsor and all landings on the Roanoke, 
Cashie, Chowan and Scuppernong Rivers and Salmon Creek. Connects at Bel- 
haven with Old Dominion Steamer for Aurora, South Creek, Washington, N. C, 
and landings on Pungo and Pamlico Rivers. This Company, with its annex steam- 
boat service on the rivers and sounds of Eastern North Carolina, affords to shippers 
quick and reliable transportation at low rates. 

HOME-SEEKERS should not fail to visit the section traversed by the Norfolk 
& Southern. It offers many advantages to those seeking homes in a mild climate 
and productive country. Lands can be bought at reasonable figures and on easy 
terms, which are specially adapted to the cultivation of early vegetables and truck, 
corn, cotton, rice, "peanuts, etc. Large and extensive Saw Mills for the manu- 
facture of Lumber are located on the line of the Norfolk and Southern Railroad, 
which supply North Carolina Pine Lumber to all sections reached by rail, at favor- 
able through rates. Connecting with the various Transportation Lines at Norfolk, 
quick dispatch of Truck, Fish and Perishable Freight is given daily to all Northern 
markets. Special rates for Land Buyers and Prospectors will be given upon 
application to the General Office of the Norfolk and Southern Railroad Co., 
Norfolk, Va. 

M. K. KING, H. C. HUDGINS, 

General Manager. General Freight and Passenger Agent. 



SAL 



'*Ll* 



.YESTIBULED 
LIMITED 
TRAINS 

SOUTH 



Seaboard Air Line 



IS THE SYNONYM OF 

Comfort. Safety, Speed. 

Its excellent Train Service, including "THE ATLANTA SPECIAL,'' 
a magnificent Solid Vestibuled Limited Train, and the " S. A. L EXPRESS, ' ' 
are the product of the most modern inventions of the best car builders. 
Propelled by the finest and most powerful locomotives, these excellent 
trains traverse the most interesting section of the South. 



T 



FROM THE EAST. 

OURISTS MAY TAKE the through route, via Washington, Rich- 
mond and Weldon, or may take advantage of a rail — rail and water — 
or all-water trip to Norfolk and Portsmouth. Making best time 
to the 

5outl7 s Qreat pities 

ATLANTA, MACON, NEW ORLEANS, MONT- 
GOMERY, CHATTANOOGA, NASHVILLE, 
MEMPHIS AND ALL POINTS IN 

<* TEXAS. CALIFORNIA. MEXICO. \<? 



The country tributary to the lines of the Seaboard Air Line System is not sur- 
passed in America for GENERAL FARMING, STOCK RAISING, FRUIT 
GROWING, TRUCK GARDENING. In its adaptability for Early Fruits and 
Vegetables, this section is pre-eminent in soil, climate, nearness to Northern 
markets and facilities for rapid transportation. 

For information, apply to 

J. W. BROWN, Jr., W. V. H. Wl LLIAMS, 

City Passenger Agent, City Ticket Agent, 

77 Main St., Norfolk, Va. Portsmouth, Va. 

E. ST. JOHN, H. W. B. GLOVER, 

Vice-Pres. & Gen'l Mangr. Traffic Manager. 

GEO. L. RHODES, T.J. ANDERSON, 

General Agant. Gen'l Passenger Agent. 

General Offices : PORTSMOUTH, VA 



INLAND NAVIGATION. 

Tie RiDemarie and CfiesapeaRe Canal. 

with the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and Delaware and Raritan 
Canal, form the great Inland Waterway from NEW YORK, PHILA- 
DELPHIA & BALTIMORE to NORTH CAROLINA and the SOUTH, 
by Canals and Inland Navigation, for Steamboats, Sailing Vessels, 
Rafts, etc., avoiding the dangers of Hatteras and the coast of North 
Carolina, Saving time and insurance. 

DIMENSIONS OF CANALS AND LOCKS. 

CANALS MILES LOCKS 

Length Width Depth 

Feet Feet Feet 

Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal 14 220 40 8 

Chesapeake and Delaware Canal 14 220 24 9 

Delaware and Raritan Canal 43 220 24 7 

Newberne and Beaufort Canal 3 No Locks 

B^F*" Light draft steamers bound to Charleston, Savannah, Florida and the 
West Indies take this route. 

Steam tug boats leave Norfolk towing Sail Vessels, Barges, Rafts, etc., to and 
from North Carolina to Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. 

Freight Steamers leave Norfolk for the following places : Edenton, Elizabeth 
City, Hertford, Plymouth, Jamesville, Williamston, Hamilton, Hill's Ferry, Pal- 
myra, Scotland Neck, Halifax, Weldon, Columbia, Fairfield, Windsor, Winton, 
Gatesville, Murfreesboro, Franklin, Currituck, Coinjock, Roanoke Island, Wash- 
ington, Greensville, Tarboro, Indiantown, Bay River and Newberne. 

For Rates of Tolls, Towing, Maps, Charts, etc., apply to 

ALBEMARLE AND CHESAPEAKE CANAL CO., 21 Granby Street, Norfolk, Va 

T^e JVJerchants and JVJiners 

Transportation Company. 

BETWEEN 

Norfolk, Newport News, Boston, Providence, 
Baltimore and Savannah. 

Running direct lines, with their New First-class Fleet of Freight and Passenger 
Steamships. 

the HOWARD, CHATHAM, 

GLOUCESTER, D. H. MILLER, 

FAIRFAX, BERKSHIRE, 

ESSEX, ALLEGHANY. 

DORCHESTER, WM. CRANE, 

AND WM. LAWRENCE, 

of 1,500 to 3,000 tons each, and the finest sea-going ships that steam out of Norfolk 
harbor, dispatching not less than three ships a week for Boston, a like number to 
Providence, and two ships weekly for Savannah, Ga. 

All these lines go to Baltimore, thus forming a direct freight and passenger 
route to the cities first above named. 

Freight at lowest rates, and passenger accommodations unsurpassed. 

For full information, apply to 

R. H. WRIGHT, Agent, 
J. C. WHITNEY, Traffic Manager. Norfolk, Va. 

A. D. STEBBINS, Asst. Traffic Manager. 
W. P. TURNER, Gen! ''ass. Agent. BALTIMORE, Md. 




S outhern Railway 

He Great noon flouts mm lortA t Ml 

VIA NORFOLK, RALEIGH, GREENSBORO TO 
ALL POINTS SOUTH and SOUTH- 
WEST. 



To flsfieville and Hot Springs 



AND THE 



■* Western North Carolina Resorts ^ 



' The Land of the; Sky. ' ! 



" The Norfolk and Chattanooga Limited " Solid Through Train, 
with Pullman Cars daily, leaving Norfolk daily 10:00 A. M. 

The Washington and Southwestern Vestibuled Limited be- 
tween New York, Atlanta and New. Orleans, via Washington, 
Danville, Greensboro and Charlotte. 



Pullman Dining Car serves all meals between New York and New 
Orleans. Pullman Drawing-Room Sleeping Car between New York, New 
Orleans, Memphis, Asheville and Hot Springs. 

Nos. or, and 36— "U. S. Fast Mail " — Pullman Drawing-Room Buffet 
Sleeping Cars between New York, Atlanta and New Orleans ; New York 
and Jacksonville, Charlotte and Augusta. 

Double Daily Service Between New York and Florida. 
Double Daily Service between Richmond and the South. 



J.M.CULP, W.A.TURK, E.T.LAMB, 

Traffic Manager. General Passenger Agent. General Agent, 

Foot Fayette St., Norfolk, Va. 

WM. H. TAYLOE, 

Dist. Pass, ami Ticket Agent, 

58 Main St., (Atlantic Hotel,) 

Norfolk, Va. 

General Offices— No. 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D. C. 

W. H. GREEN, Gen'l Superintendent. 
H. F. SMITH, Gen'l Freight Agent. 

(81) 



BRANCH OFFICES! 



1002 Gerard Bldg., Broad & Chestnut Sts., Philadelphia, Pa. 



18 Broadway, New York. 



John L. Roper Lumber Company, 



Manufacturers of 



North Carolina Pine Lumber 

Railroad Ties, Cedar and CyprevSS Shingles, Cedar Tank 
Plank and Boat Boards, Telegraph Arms, Worked Kiln-dried 
N. C Pine Flooring, Ceiling, Partition and Mouldings of all 
patterns. 

NORFOLK, VA. 

[See page 48.] 



Reed Bros. & Co., 

(Successors to PETERS & REED.) 

Exporters of and 
Dealers in 

STAVE S AND 
LUMBER. 



Columbia Bldg., Granby St., 
Norfolk, Va. 



Dr. F. A. WALKE. 



J. N. WILLIAMS. 



WALKE & WILLIAMS, 

WHOLESALE 

DRUGGISTS. 



Cor. Water St. & Roanoke Aye., 

Norfolk, Va. 



DEALERS IN PAINTS, OILS, &c. 



HEADQUARTERS FOR 




TH 




D 



UNA riNE. 



THE TUNIS LUMBER CO 



NORFOLK, VA 



Band-Sawed Lumber. Ten million feet under cover. The largest and best 
equipped establishment in the South, and, in fact, the largest in America in the 
same line of business. 

Facilities for shipping are unexcelled, both by rail and water. 

Lumber delivered anywhere. 

Write for particulars to NORFOLK, VA., or BALTIMORE, MD. 

[See page 47.] 



ATLANTIC & DANVILLE RAILWAY, 



DIRECT LINE BETWEEN NORFOLK AND DANVILLE. 
TWO PASSENGER TRAINS DAILY IN EACH DIRECTION. 

The only line reaching the Celebrated Buffalo Lithia Springs. 



TT HE 

♦ .♦ \b mil 



main line of the Atlantic & Danville Railway extends 206 
iles west to Danville, Va., the largest bright tobacco market 
in the world. The James River Division extends 55 miles from 
Emporia, Va., to Claremont Wharf on the James River. 



CONNECTIONS. 



At Emporia with Atlantic Coast Line for Richmond, Petersburg, 
Wilmington, and all points South. 

At Danville with Southern Railway for Atlanta, Augusta, Birming- 
ham, New Orleans and all points South and Southwest. 

At Denniston Junction with Norfolk & Western Railroad for Dur- 
ham, South Boston, and all points on Durham Division. 



C. D. OWENS, 

V-P. and G. M. 



CHAS. O. HAINES, 

Sup't and Chief Eng'r. 



WM. H. TAYLOR, 

G. F. and P. A. 



W. B. ROGERS, 

President. 



A. S. MARTIN, 
Sec'y, Treas. and Manager. 



W. W. LITTLE, 
Engineer and Sup't of Works. 



©lb ^Dominion Creosotmo (Zo. 

Office: 54 Main St., NORFOLK, VA. 




W'^ Creosote Piles, Decking for Vessels, Posts, Joists, Railroad 

Ties, Telegraph Poles and Arms, and all Lumber exposed to 
. damp or water. 

CREOSOTED Indestructible and proof against all insects and decay, par- 

ticularly the TEREDO NAVAL1S (ship worm). Thousands of 
LUMBER, dollars saved by the use of it. 

Orders will receive prompt attention. 

(See Page 48.) 



Established 1844. 




Rfiarlps Rpiit % SniiQ 


— — _ — 


ul(ulluu ilulU Of uUlIu 

Commission 
Merchants 


J. H. WATTERS. A. A. MARTIN. 

Matters S. flfcartm, 

Mbolesale 

Ibarfcware. 


■^^SPEC//IL TY ;^^. 
Staves, Shingles and Shooks 






STAVE YARDS: 

INDIA WHARF, NORFOLK. 
COOKE'S WHARF, PORTSMOUTH. 


S4 anD 86 Mater Street, 
morfolft, Da. 






OFFICE: 

14 NIVISON STREET, 
NORFOLK, - - VIRGINA. 





Virginia -Carolina^ Chemical Co. 

Norfolk and Carolina Chemical Co. (Branch.) 



Manufacturers of 



Sulphuric Acid, and Fer- 
tilizers for all 
Crops. 

Importers of 

Potash Salts, 

Nitrate of Soda. 



OFFICES : 

38 MAIN STREET, 
NORFOLK, VA. 



mflHILE OUR works are the 
^*** newest, they are, perhaps, 
the best equipped on the Atlantic 
coast. They are situated at the ter- 
mini of the Great Southern and 
Coast Line Systems of Railroads ; 
the tracks of both lines run directly 
into our works. Our dock facilities 
for receiving goods from the largest 
vessels which come into this port 
are unexcelled. 

These works were constructed by 
experienced chemical and mechan- 
ical engineers, and have every 
facility" for receiving, storing, man- 
ufacturing and shipping goods. 
We claim that there could be no 
better site for a plant for the dis- 
tribution of Fertilizers among our 
Southern people than ours. 



PLANT — PINNERS POINT. 



SEE PAGE 49. 



A WONDERFUL SECTION OF COUNTRY. 

TWENTY-FIVE miles around Norfolk, Portsmouth, Newport News, Old Toint 
Comfort and Hampton Roads. Our new map shows it all. Our eleven year 
old paper, the " Horn of Plenty," tells it all. You can see it all by studying 
our map ; and understand it all by reading our paper. Only 50c. a year for the 
paper ; and three good maps are given free to each subscriber. Send for free sam- 
ple copies of the paper ; read it regularly, and find out all about Eastern Virginia 
and North Carolina near the sea. .A. JEFFER5 

185 Main Street, Norfolk, Va. 



*3no. Dermillion^ 

mo. 4 (Branb^ Street, 

Btlanttc fbotel, 
morfolfe, " * Dirflinia. 

9 © 9 



>^»^FAMILY WINE STORE^^-* 



SELECT STOCK OF 



m 



Wines, Liquors, Cigars, 

IMPORTED and DOMESTIC. 

POCKET PISTOLS.... 

....FOR TOURISTS, 

LOADED TO ORDER. 
^~ AGENT FOR POLAND MINERAL WATER. 



JOHN GRAHAM, Jr. 



JAMES RIDDLE. 



— GRAHAM & RIDDLE'- 
CONSULTING AND CONSTRUCTING ENGINEERS 

DESIGN, SUPERVISE AND CONSTRUCT 

GENERAL ENGINEERING WORK. 



102 MAIN STREET, 



NORFOLK, VA. 



REGULAR SAILINGS 

Liverpool, Hamburg, 

Rotterdam, Bremen. 



The Old Bay Line 



^ 



...BETWEEN. 



®^^_ 



Jl^® 



North A mer * can 

* T ransport * 

* • 

* C ompany, * 

COLUMBIA BUILDING, 

NORFOLK, VA. 



Norfolk 



more 



This Old and Reliable Line to 
All Points North, East and West. 



~1> 



JAMES ORAHAM, Jr., 
Hanager. 



-s 



HE PALATIAL STEAMERS, 
ALABAMA and GEORGIA, 
Give to the traveling public unexcelled 
service in every respect. 

Freight accommodations unlimited, 
and best connections made with all 
lines. 

For information apply to J. W. Brown, 
Jr., Passenger Agent, No. 77 Main St., 
Norfolk, Va. 

WILLIAM RANDALL, 

Agent. 



ESTABLISHED 1880. 
H. L, PAGE, 

Treas. Norfolk Real Estate and Stock Ex. 
E. A. PAGE, 

Notary Public for Norfolk City. 

H. L. PAGE & CO. 

General 
and Real Estate 

...Auctioneers, 

Real Estate and Rental - 

~— AGENTS, 

Members of the Virginia Real Estate Ex- 
change and the Norfolk Real Estate 
Exchange. 

16 Bank St., near Main, NORFOLK, VA. 

GOODS, STOCKS, PROPERTY, &c. sold 
Privately or by Auction. Rents collected, 
Tenants Secured and Prompt Returns made 
every month. Taxes and Insurance attended 
to. MONEY LOANED ON REAL ESTATE. 
MORTGAGES BOUGHT AND SOLD. Houses, 
L«ts and Farms for Sale or Kent in all parts 
of Norfolk, Berkley, Hnntersviile, Atlantic 
City and the Surrounding Country. Satisfac- 
tion Guaranteed to our Patrons. Catalogue 
and Maps Free on Application. 

Reference : Any Bank in the City of Norfolk. 



D.P.Blount & Co. 

COTTON 
^FACTORS am 

PRODUCE . . . 



SPECIALTIES: 

BUTTER, 

EGGS, 

POULTRY, 

MELONS, 

POTATOES, 

19 Roanoke Dock, 
. . . NORFOLK,VA. 

REFERENCES: 

Citizens' Bank, 

Bradstreet's. 



F. S. ROYSTER, 

President. 



C. F. BURROUGHS, 
Sec'y and Treas. 



Columbia • 
Guano Company, 



. MANUFACTURERS 
AND IMPORTERS OF 



Se Fertilizers 



and 



Chemicals 



. . For all Crops 



59 WAIN STREET, 

Next door to Post Office, N Of 10 IK, 1/3, 



Mtt'i 

Wrecking Organization, 

SUB-MARINE Divers, 
Steamers and Steam 
Pumps, and all neces- 
. sary materials on hand 
. at all tinies. 

Also Pontoons for 
. raising vessels. 

OFFICE: 36 MAIN STREET, 

NORFOLK, VA. 

OPEN DAY AND NIGHT. 

TELEPHONE No. 17. 

NEW YORK OFFICE : 49 WALL ST. 



Telephone 373- 



BARBER & CO., 

Steamship ~ Agents 



No. 51 Main Street. 



Agents for regular line of steamers from New York, Norfolk and Newport 
News to Liverpool, London, Glasgow, Hamburg, Havre, Antwerp, Rotterdam, 
Amsterdam, South Africa, China and Japan, and Passenger Agents for White Star, 
American and State Lines. 

For freight apply to BARBER & CO., 51 Main Street, Norfolk, or Rooms 1, 2 
and 3, Floor H, Produce Exchange, N. Y. ; E. J. RUDGARD WIGG, Agent, 
Norfolk and Newport News. 

J.W. PERRY COMP'Y, 

Cotton Factors jj Commission merchants 

NORFOLK, VA. 



Handle COTTON, PEANUTS AND BLACK -EYE 
PEAS. 

Wholesale dealers in BAGGING and TIES. 

Ht-iP Correspondence Solicited. 

The United States Shipping Co., 

From Newport News and Norfolk. 



Dispatch Steamers every two weeks to HAMBURG, GLASGOW, ROTTER- 
DAM, AMSTERDAM, DUBLIN and BELFAST. Regular sailings to LEITH, 
BRISTOL. Through rates and bills of lading to all Baltic, Black Sea and Aus- 
tralian ports. 

For freight, apply to 

THE UNITED STATES SHIPPING CO., 

NEWPORT NEWS, 
NORFOLK, VA. 
or FUNCH, EDYE & CO., 

Produce Exchange, New York. 



CONTENTS. 



Harbor and Trade Center 

The King's Chamber 

Roads, River and Port 

Classic Grounds 

The Yesterday of the Borough. 

Prosperity of To-day 

Forecast of To-morrow 

Harbor and City 

The Residence District 

A Water-side Maze 

The Business Quarter 

Attractions and Resorts 

Norfolk, Portsmouth and Berk- 

ley 

Norfolk in a Nut Shell 

Financial Conditions 

Public Works 

Public Health, Climate, Etc 

Law and Order 

Street Railroads and Ferries 

Educational 

Churches and Charities 

Libraries, Works of Art, Etc 

The Press 

Norfolk's Social Side 

Commercial Organizations 

The Market — Living Wages 

New Atlantic Hotel 

Seaside Resorts 

Ocean View 

Virginia Beach 

Cotton Trade 

N. C. Pine Lumber 

The Truck Trade 

The Coal Trade 

The Peanut Trade 

The Oyster Trade 

Merchandise Receipts Compared 

Foreign Exports 

Foreign Imports 

Shipping Figures 

Buildings Erected 

Real Estate Transactions 

Postal Receipts 

The Factories 

Wonderful Strides 

Leading Lines of Trade 

The Iron Industry 

Manufacturing Opportunities. . . . 

The Tunis Lumber Co 

The John L. Roper Lumber Co.. 
The Old Dominion Creosoting 

Works 

Virginia-Carolina Chemical Co.. 



PAGE. PAGE. 

3 Ship-building at Norfolk in 1821. 50 

5 Agriculture and Truck Farming. 52 

Norfolk as a Railroad Center ... 53 

7 Norfolk cS: Western R. R 54 

9 Seaboard Air Line 55 

11 Norfolk & Southern R. R 55 

Hi Southern Railway 56 

1? Chesapeake & Ohio R. R 57 

19 N. Y., P. & N. R. R 58 

21 Atlantic & Danville R. R........ 58 

22 Norfolk & Carolina R. R 59 

22 Norfolk as a Maritime Port 59 

Foreign Lines and Trade 61 

23 Barber & Co., Steamship Agents 61 

24 United States Shipping Co 61 

24 North American Transport Co.. 61 

25 Coastwise Lines and Trade Re- 

26 sources 62 

27 The North Carolina Sounds 62 

28 Chesapeake Bay 62 

28 West Point 63 

29 The Albemarle & Chesapeake 

30 Canal 

31 The Dismal Swamp Canal 

32 The Old Dominion Steamship 
32 Co 

34 The Merchants' & Miners' Trans- 

35 portation Co 

36 The Baltimore Steam Packet Co. 
36 The Baltimore, Chesapeake and 

36 Richmond Steamboat Co.. 

37 The City's Growth 

37 The Developmental Projects .... 

38 The Public Buildings 

40 What the Press and People Say. 

41 Portsmouth and Berkley 

41 Naval Establishments 

42 Lambert's Point Described 

43 In Norfolk's Surroundings 

43 Newport News 

43 Hampton 

43 Old Point 

43 Fort Monroe 

43 Cape Charles City 

44 Dismal Swamp 

45 Suffolk . 

45 West Point 

46 Yorktown 

47 Williamsburg 

47 Old Jamestown 

48 Banks and Monetary Institutions 
Transportation, Manufactures, 

48 and Mercantile Advertise- 

49 ments. 



63 
63 

63 

64 
65 

65 

65 
66 
66 
67 



70 
70 
70 
71 
71 
72 
72 
72 
73 
73 
73 
74 
74 
75 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Map of Norfolk 2 

Virginia Beach Hotel 4 

The Cornucopia District 5 

The Atlantic Garden 6 

The Norfolk Navy Yard 7 

The City Hall 8 

The Custom House and Post 

Office !) 

The Norfolk Markets — old and 

new 10 

The Norfolk & Western Depot.. 11 

The Y. M. C. A. Building 12 

The Truckers' Landing 13 

The Cape Charles Route 14 

The Bay Line Wharf 15 



The Naval Hospital 17 

The View of Lynnhaven Bay.. . . 18 

The Myers Mansion 20 

The Retreat for the Sick 26 

The Epworth M. E. Church 29 

The St. Luke's Episcopal Ch'ch 29 

The Merrimac Club 32 

The Chesapeake Cotton Mills .. . 44 

Tunis Lumber Co. Mills 46 

Steam Brig " New York " 50 

O. D. Steamship "Jamestown" 51 

View of Elizabeth City, N. C. . . . 62 

S. S. "Howard," M.&M.T. Co. 64 

Hampton from the River 71 



J^j-CL 



'TKf (jaifwajy of tk^ N^tiotp. 




AKir\6s (1?ambermi\orv^tbe\0orlds^redi ^rbonf^* 

(Com. AJ&ury) 




1 '.J '■ ' 



V 



NORFOLK HARBOR VIEWS 




MAP OF VIRGINIA, 

Shoirinq the Six Grand Divisions of the State, arni the Districts of its Principal Production*. 



i PENNSYLVANIA -v 

! *f ?> J% /- 1 




NORFOLKS 
TPADE TEfiP/TO/W, 



JLf Vs IIv I \~4 ■- 



•N 



CORNER OP MAIN AND GRANBY STRE 



\ * 




mioyt 



